ABSTRACT
Under absolutism, the leader has unlimited power over the state. Absolute monarchs justified their power as being granted by God, a doctrine called “the divine right of kings,” which gave the monarch power over the church as well as the state. The absolute monarch controlled the military, the treasury, and the courts. Without a written constitution in place, the sovereign held ultimate authority in making and enforcing laws. Kings kept order by limiting the power of other groups or individuals who disagreed with their policies. Some absolute monarchies in Europe had councils or parliamentary bodies that symbolically represented the people, but the monarch had the power to dissolve or replace these at will. The French king’s power over the legislature eventually sparked the French Revolution in 1789.
