Answer:
b. By violating the social contract with the colonists, the king has lost his authority to rule.
Explanation:
The French philosopher John Locke is known for favoring a limited government that had to be accountable for the people it governs and having a great influence in may of Democratic governments that exist nowadays. In his Two Treatises of Government" (1689), Locke claimed that men were by nature free and equal, but with the purpose to interact in a healthy society, it was necessary that they transferred some of their rights to a government in a "Social Contract". Under that contract, the government had to be elected by the people and had to protect people's natural rights to life, liberty, and property. However, whenever the government failed to do so, people had the authority to abolish it and replace it.
These ideas highly influenced the Declaration of Independence. In this document, the Thirteen American Colonies unanimously declared independence from Britain for violating the social contract, as part of the document states:
<em>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that </em><em>all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.</em><em>--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That </em><em>whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government</em>
to create a permanent settlement to allow for equal access to trade
Cyrus' conquest was relatively humane compared to empires preceding his, such as the Babylonians and Assyrians. He allowed many areas of his empire a great deal of autonomy, rather than centrally controlling things. This distributed leadership allowed Persia to cover a greater geographical area than previous empires in that era and still be fairly stable, since most of its subjects were content to remain under Persian rule. Persian law was more codified and less arbitrary than previous empires; the king's seal declared approval of law which could only be reversed by further approved decrees -- not quite rule of law but going in that direction.
I'm gonna do some more research then i'll get back to you on this.
