Information on Legalism:

Legalist believed that people were evil by nature and that people behave properly only if compelled by strict laws and harsh punishments. People’s personal freedom should be sacrifices for the good of the state.

Xunzi was one of the people who led to the development of Legalism. He believed that people had to be forced to make the right decision. He did not believe in the essential goodness of all human beings, and he did not believe that they could make the right decisions.

In the mid-fourth century BCE, Lord Shang was put in charge of the Qin Dynasty. He was one of the first rulers to practice Legalism. He believe that the Confucians were mistaken in looking to an idealized past for solutions and naïve in thinking that the ruler should worry about his subjects’ opinions. In his view, the ruler should trust his own judgment and use whatever means are necessary to force obedience and good behavior in his subjects and to guarantee the security and prosperity of the state.