AP European History

AP Euro Unit 3 Standards - Absolutism and Constitutionalism

The Administrator

• 5 min read

Disclaimer: This outline is sourced directly from the AP European History Course Framework released by the College Board. This is a lightweight, web-friendly format for easy reference. Omninox does not take credit for this outline and is not affiliated with the College Board. AP is a reserved trademark of the College Board.

Table of Contents

Unit 1 - Renaissance and Exploration
Unit 2 - Age of Reformation
Unit 3 - Absolutism and Constitutionalism (you are here)
Unit 4 - Scientific and Cultural Developments
Unit 5 - Late 18th Century Crisis and Reaction
Unit 6 - Industrialization and its Effects
Unit 7 - 19th Century Perspectives
Unit 8 - 20th Century Global Conflicts
Unit 9 - Cold War and Modern Europe

TOPIC 3.1 - Contextualizing State Building

U3_Learning Objective A: Explain the context in which different forms of political power developed from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-1.5: The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
    • KC-1.5.I: The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creation of new political institutions.
    • KC-1.5.III: The competition for power between monarchs and corporate and minority language groups produced different distributions of governmental authority in European states.
    • KC-1.5.III.B: Monarchies seeking enhanced power faced challenges from nobles who wished to retain traditional forms of shared governance and regional autonomy.
    • KC-1.5.III.C: Within states, minority local and regional identities based on language and culture led to resistance against the dominant national group.
  • KC-2.1: Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
    • KC-2.1.I: In much of Europe, absolute monarchy was established over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.
    • KC-2.1.II: Challenges to absolutism resulted in alternative political systems.

TOPIC 3.2 - The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution

U3_Learning Objective B: Explain the causes and consequences of the English Civil War.

  • KC-1.5.III.A: The English Civil War — a conflict among the monarchy, Parliament, and other elites over their respective roles in the political structure — exemplified the competition for power among monarchs and competing groups.
  • KC-2.1.II.A: The outcome of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution protected the rights of gentry and aristocracy from absolutism through assertions of the rights of Parliament.

TOPIC 3.3 - Continuities and Changes to Economic Practice and Development

U3_Learning Objective C: Explain the continuities and changes in commercial and economic developments from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-2.2.I.B: The Agricultural Revolution raised productivity and increased the supply of food and other agricultural products.
  • KC-2.2.II.D: The importation and transplantation of agricultural products from the Americas contributed to an increase in the food supply in Europe.
  • KC-2.2.I.A: Labor and trade in commodities were increasingly freed from traditional restrictions imposed by governments and corporate entities.
  • KC-2.2.I.C: The putting-out system, or cottage industry, expanded as increasing numbers of laborers in homes or workshops produced for markets through merchant intermediaries or workshop owners.
  • KC-2.2.I.D: The development of the market economy led to new financial practices and institutions.
  • KC-2.2.I: Early modern Europe developed a market economy that provided the foundation for its global role.

TOPIC 3.4 - Economic Development and Mercantilism

U3_Learning Objective C: Explain the continuities and changes in commercial and economic developments from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-2.2.II: The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe.
    • KC-2.2.II.A: European states followed mercantilist policies by drawing resources from colonies in the New World and elsewhere.
    • KC-2.2.II.B: The transatlantic slave-labor system expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries as demand for New World products increased.
    • KC-2.2.II.C: Overseas products and influences contributed to the development of a consumer culture in Europe.
    • KC-2.2.II.D: The importation and transplantation of agricultural products from the Americas contributed to an increase in the food supply in Europe.
    • KC-2.2.II.E: Foreign lands provided raw materials, finished goods, laborers, and markets for the commercial and industrial enterprises in Europe.

TOPIC 3.5 - The Dutch Golden Age

U3_Learning Objective D: Explain the factors that contributed to the development of the Dutch Republic.

  • KC-2.1.II.B: The Dutch Republic, established by a Protestant revolt against the Habsburg monarchy, developed an oligarchy of urban gentry and rural landholders to promote trade and protect traditional rights.

TOPIC 3.6 - Balance of Power

U3_Learning Objective E: Explain how European states attempted to establish and maintain a balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-1.5.II: The competitive state system led to new patterns of diplomacy and new forms of warfare.
    • KC-1.5.II.A: Following the Peace of Westphalia, religion declined in importance as a cause for warfare among European states; the concept of the balance of power played an important role in structuring diplomatic and military objectives.
  • KC-2.1.I.D: The inability of the Polish monarchy to consolidate its authroity over the nobility led to Poland's partition by Prussia, Russia, and Austria, and its disappearance from the map of Europe.
  • KC-2.1.III: After 1648, dynastic and state interests, along with Europe's expanding colonial empires, influenced the diplomacy of European states and frequently led to war.
    • KC-2.1.III.B: After the Austrian defeat of the Turks in 1683 at the Battle of Vienna, the Ottomans ceased their westward expansion.
    • KC-2.1.III.C: Louis XIV's nearly continuous wars, pursuing both dynastic and state interests, provoked a coalition of European powers opposing him.

U3_Learning Objective F: Explain how advances in technology contributed to a developing balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-1.5.II.B: Advances in military technology led to new forms of warfare, including greater reliance on infantry, firearms, mobile cannon, and more elaborate fortifications, all financed by heavier taxation and requiring a larger bureaucracy. New military techniques and institutions (i.e., the military revolution) tipped the balance of power toward states able to marshal sufficient resources for the new military environment.

TOPIC 3.7 - Absolutist Approaches to Power

U3_Learning Objective G: Explain how absolutist forms of rule affected social and political development from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-2.1.I.A: Absolute monarchies limited the nobility's participation in governance but preserved the aristocracy's social position and legal privileges.
  • KC-2.1.I.B: Louis XIV and his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, extended the administrative, financial, military, and religious control of the central state over the French population.
  • KC-2.1.I.E: Peter the Great "westernized" the Russian state and society, transforming political, religious, and cultural institutions; Catherine the Great continued this process.

TOPIC 3.8 - Comparison in the Age of Absolutism and Constitutionalism

U3_Learning Objective H: Compare the different forms of political power that developed in Europe from 1648 to 1815.

  • KC-1.5: The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
    • KC-1.5.I: The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creatin of new political institutions.
    • KC-1.5.III: The competition for power between monarchs and corporate and minority language groups produced different distributions of governmental authority in European states.
    • KC-1.5.III.B: Monarchies seeking enhanced power faced challenges from nobles who wished to retain traditional forms of shared governance and regional autonomy.
    • KC-1.5.III.C: Within states, minority local and regional identities based on language and culture led to resistance against the dominant national group.
  • KC-2.1: Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
    • KC-2.1.I: In much of Europe, absolute monarchy was established over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.
    • KC-2.1.II: Challenges to absolutism resulted in alternative political systems.
  • KC-2.2: The expansion of European commerce accelerated the growth of a worldwide economic network.
    • KC-2.2.I: Early modern Europe developed a market economy that provided the foundation for its global role.
    • KC-2.2.II: The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe.

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