Qin Shi Huang and his officials believed in a political philosophy known as Legalism, which is a philosophy that justifies strict, centralized control of the people. Qin Shi Huang had followed all the dictates of the philosophy by first conquering the region and then forcing the majority of the population to work on his projects, such as construction and conquests. Officials believed that to strengthen the emperor's rule, he must force everyone to obey him and not speak out. He was about to control how people wrote, what they believed in, and what they could do. The consequence of all this power was that people grew to hate him which caused the emperor to become paranoid about his death. (Zhou, "Qin Shihuang.")
The Rules of Legalism:
1. Fa: The law must be known by everyone in the land. Everyone under the ruler is equal before the law. Those who follow the law will be rewarded and those who break the law will be punished.
2. Shu: The ruler must have methods to protect the law so that nobody is able to abolish the system. 3. Shi: The position of the ruler is important; the ruler himself is not. (New World Encyclopedia) |
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