King James the first says that a ruler has the god given right to rule. “God hath power to create or destrov make or unmake at his pleasure, to give life or send death, to judge all and to be judged nor accountable to none: to raise low things and to make high things low at his pleasure, and to God are both souls and body due. And the like power have kings: they make and unmake their subjects, thv have power of raising and casting down, of life and death, judges over all their subjects and in all causes and yet accountable to none but god only” by King James the first. He believes that it is wrong to question a King because that is basically like questioning God. According to him, Kings are representatives sent from God to rule for him, as an absolutist. They have power that they were given and they have a connection to god. “Kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by himself are called gods.” by King James the first. King James is asking parliament to keep their hands off what is rightfully his. He does not want to be told how to do his job, and how to rule his land and people.
I was fortunate to learn about Catherine the Great, also known as Catherine II. Catherine was both an absolutist and enlightened ruler. She did many great things like improve the education in Russia, and expanded the border to get Russia a warm water port. She also did things to make her an absolutist ruler. She formed a set of laws called the Nakaz. The Nakaz could have proved her to be an absolutist ruler or an enlightened ruler. The laws helped her people, taking away torture and making sure everyone would be treated equal. She made the laws happen by using her power and that’s why she can also be an absolutist. Without using all of her power she would not have been able to make the set of laws she created possible. To help her country she gained them a warm water port. On her part that was a good thing to do so her country would be happy, but once she got her way she was still unhappy. She started another war which isn’t good for her country. Having people in war after she even got her way already is not a smart idea and it is not in favor of the people living in the country. That is just use of her power that she already has plenty of. Another horrible thing Catherine did was her decision to impose serfdom. The majority of the people under her rule were serfs. It was not only bad that she put serfdom in place but she also used the profits they made for her benefit.
In my opinion I think at times Catherine was a good ruler, but at the same time she did things that did not make her a good ruler. Catherine built schools to make the education in Russia better, and I thought that was one of the great things she did. That really helped the people and not herself because building schools wouldn’t help her. The people who got the education would benefit from it. Although, the way Catherine treated the peasants was inhumane. They suffered and they should not have had to. She gave control of the peasants to the nobles. The nobles were happy, but again the majority of the population was not happy. Catherine's reign was both good and bad.
