With respect to the North American situation in the 1760s, what could be one reason for George Grenville's failure as a prime minister? A. He was a Catholic and that went against him since the colonies were largely Protestant. B. He did not have the trust of the king, George III. C. He sought to impose legislation that would outlaw the assemblies in some of the colonies, notably Massachusetts. D. He miscalculated the way colonists would respond to the Stamp Act.

the main inference that can be drawn from jean jacques rousseau's book the social contract is: a. people can enjoy civil and physical freedom, even if it sometimes harms society.

according to my calculation, the answer is d.

the russian empire[a] was an empire that extended across eurasia and north america from 1721, following the end of the great northern war, until the republic was proclaimed by the provisional government that took power after the february revolution of 1917.[4]

the third largest empire in world history, at its greatest extent stretching over three continents, europe, asia, and north america, the russian empire was surpassed in size only by the british and mongol empires. the rise of the russian empire coincided with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the swedish empire, the polish–lithuanian commonwealth, persia and the ottoman empire. it played a major role in 1812–1814 in defeating napoleon's ambitions to control europe and expanded to the west and south.

the house of romanov ruled the russian empire from 1721 until 1762, and its matrilineal branch of patrilineal german descent the house of holstein-gottorp-romanov ruled from 1762. at the beginning of the 19th century, the russian empire extended from the arctic ocean in the north to the black sea in the south, from the baltic sea on the west to the pacific ocean, into alaska and northern california in america on the east.[5] with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after qing china and india. like all empires, it featured great diversity in terms of economies, ethnicity, and religion. there were many dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts; they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to siberia.

economically, the empire had a predominantly agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs (russian peasants) until they were freed in 1861. the economy slowly industrialized with the of foreign investments in railways and factories. the land was ruled by a nobility, the boyars, from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. tsar ivan iii (1462–1505) laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged. he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the golden horde, renovated the moscow kremlin, and laid the foundations of the russian state. emperor peter the great (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major european power. he moved the capital from moscow to the new model city of st. petersburg, and led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political mores with a modern, scientific, europe-oriented, and rationalist system.

empress catherine the great (reigned 1762–1796) presided over a golden age; she expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing peter the great's policy of modernization along western european lines. emperor alexander ii (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. his policy in eastern europe involved protecting the orthodox christians under the rule of the ottoman empire. that connection by 1914 led to russia's entry into the first world war on the side of france, the united kingdom, and serbia, against the german, austrian, and ottoman empires.

the russian empire functioned as an absolute monarchy on principles of orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationality until the revolution of 1905 and then became a de jure constitutional monarchy. the empire collapsed during the february revolution of 1917, largely as a result of massive failures in its participation in the first world war.

the mandate of heaven or tian ming (chinese: 天命; pinyin: tiānmìng; wade–giles: t'ien-ming) is a chinese political and religious doctrine used since ancient times to justify the rule of the king or emperor of china. according to this belief, heaven (天, tian)—which embodies the natural order and will of the universe—bestows the mandate on a just ruler of china, the "son of heaven" of the "celestial empire". if a ruler was overthrown, this was interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy, and had lost the mandate. it was also a common belief among citizens that natural disasters such as famine and flood were signs of heaven's displeasure with the ruler, so there would often be revolts following major disasters as citizens saw these as signs that the mandate of heaven had been withdrawn.[1]

a brief flow chart describing the dynastic cycles in imperial china on claiming to withdrawing the mandate of heaven

the mandate of heaven does not require a legitimate ruler to be of noble birth, depending instead on the just and able performance of the rulers and their heirs. dynasties such as the han and ming dynasties were founded by men of common origins. the concept is in some ways similar to the european concept of the divine right of kings; however, unlike the european concept, it does not in theory confer an unconditional right to rule, despite this being exactly the case in practicality. the mandate would in theory be a preoccupation in a ruler's lifetime, when he would hold onto the mandate and live according to heavens. intrinsic to the concept of the mandate of heaven was the right of rebellion against an unjust ruler. chinese historians interpreted a successful revolt as evidence that heaven had withdrawn its mandate from the ruler. throughout chinese history, times of poverty and natural disasters were often taken as signs that heaven considered the incumbent ruler unjust and thus in need of replacement. the mandate of heaven was often invoked by philosophers and scholars in china as a way to curtail the abuse of power by the ruler. while each dynasty was not the same, they each had a lineage that passed on the prospective ruler by order of generational descent or their priority of birth. many emperors during the imperial times would optimize to have many sons who could be candidates to fill the position after the current ruler has died. in addition heaven was thought to be of how a ruler's works and performance was, which reflected upon how favorable they would be to heaven.