Early Forms of Government

Social Studies > PreGed > McGraw Hill > CH1T1

Important Instructions
Please read and answer 10 Questions carefully within TIME LIMIT 20 min.

Tips

You should not spend too much time on a question if you are not certain of the answer; answer it the best you can, and go on to the next question.
If you are not certain of the answer to a question, you can mark your answer for review and come back to it later.
Wishing you all the best.

Early Forms of Government

Throughout history, different cultures have tried various forms of government. At the dawn of civilization, with the emergence of agriculture, early peoples found that they had to organize themselves beyond the tribal structures that had dominated hunter-gatherer societies. A growing population in need of a steady supply of food and adequate defense led to the development of government. Governments could organize and regulate human activity while providing order among various groups and individuals.

The earliest form of government to emerge was the monarchy, centered on the rule of kings and queens. These monarchs normally gained power by inheritance and usually ruled for life. They organized armies to protect the population, made laws to regulate daily life, and managed the maintenance and stability of the food supply. Their power was often absolute, meaning that their authority could never be challenged.

Out of monarchy, new forms of social order emerged based on economic power and education. In time, monarchs were supported by an aristocracy, a ruling upper class whose wealth was based on land ownership and whose power passed from one generation to the next. Farmers, artisans, craftspeople, and slaves made up the lower class. In this structure, the demand for luxury goods by the upper class, such as jewelry and pottery, spurred economic development in the lower class.

As time went on, the form of monarchy became more complex. In ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), for example, a form of monarchy called theocracy emerged, in which government was presumed to be based on divine authority. Kings were believed to get their power from the gods, and in some instances it was believed that they represented the gods. In ancient Egypt, this took on a very literal form in which monarchs, called pharaohs, were considered gods themselves. Authority over all of society rested with the pharaohs. However, the rule of the kingdom soon proved to be too much for any one person, and a bureaucracy—an administrative organization that relies on appointed officials and regular procedures—was developed. In ancient China, where kings ruled as well, most power actually lay in the hands of a landowning aristocracy.

With the development of writing, expanding wealth, and a growing educated class, more and more people began to demand a voice in government. Struggles emerged over the right to rule. In ancient Greece, tyrants emerged around the year 700 BCE. Unlike the modern, often negative meaning of the word tyrant, Greek tyrants were members of the newly empowered lower class who sought to seize power from the kings and aristocracy. Support for the tyrants came from peasants who were in debt to the former rulers. With the help of paid armies, the tyrants were able to lead ancient Greece for close to 200 years.

The rule of the tyrants is significant because it ended the rule of monarchs and aristocrats and allowed more people to participate in government. In some Greek cities, this led to the development of oligarchy (government by a small group of people usually distinguished by wealth or family ties) and democracy (government by all eligible members of a population, often through elected representatives). The Greek experiments in government would become a model for later civilizations, most notably Rome, which would eventually establish a republic (a state in which power is exercised by elected representatives rather than a monarch) that lasted for several hundred years.