Age of Absolutism and King Louis XIV Lesson

This lesson plan covers the rise of Absolutism and the methods that King Louis XIV of France used to centralize power.

The lesson begins with a very short powerpoint to set up Absolutism. The first slide discusses how England developed a Constitutional Monarchy where their monarch shared power with Parliament and was limited by a Constitution. Then there are a couple of slides to show how France develops Absolutism and how the the palace of Versailles and the sun came to symbolize King Louis XIV's power.

Lecture notes with questions and points for the teacher to make during the powerpoint are included in the lesson as a word document. After the powerpoint, students are assigned an article to read about King Louis XIV.

The article covers:

1. Why Absolute Monarchies were developed.

2. Why Louis adopted the "Sun King" symbol.

3. How Louis centralized power.

4. How Louis eliminated the power of the Nobility, the Legislative Assemblies, and Protestants.

Students answer the questions included with the article. They then partner up with another student to draw a character collage of King Louis XIV where they visually illustrate 3 of the methods he used to centralize power. There are an additional 2 slides to the powerpoint to help the teacher discuss the main points of the article.

Also included is a 5 question quiz (4 multiple choice, 1 True or False). If you wanted to assign the article as a Homework reading, the quiz can be used to assess the student. Or the quiz can be used after the lesson is given.

For Texas teachers, this lesson addresses the following TEKs:

WH19 Government. The student understands the characteristics of major political systems throughout history. The student is expected to: (B) identify the characteristics of the following political systems: absolute monarchy

 Created by Dan Nguyen - Visit My Store