CHAPTER 2
The Disintegration of the Early
Choson System to 1592
1he system of control established at the beginning of the dynasty began to break
down almost from the instant of its foundation, but not in all sectors at the same
rate. This chapter will treat four major sectors of government: the political sys-
tem, the growth of landlordism and tenancy, the transformation of the tribute
system and its effects on commercial development, and the deterioration of mil-
itary defense and the attempt to reconstitute it after the Imjin War of r 592-98.
By the time of Hideyoshi's invasions, the political leaders of the country real-
ized that they faced a major crisis that required reform, but their responses to
each situation was limited, if not dictated, by the circumstances at the time. They
had to decide whether it was either possible or desirable to turn back the clock
to the beginning of the dynasty, or to some other remote ideal in the Confucian
tradition that the founders had failed to accomplish or whether to adapt to the
flow of events and create new, more progressive institutions aimed at creating
a new future.
POLITICAL PROBLEMS
The aggrandizement of royal power that accompanied the founding of the
Choson dynasty did not guarantee the wise and restrained utilization of that
power by the early kings. Despite the elevation of Neo-Confucianism as the
philosophical guide for kings and officials alike, the Chos6n monarchy suf-
fered from the same ills that plagued other monarchies in world history, includ-
ing the violation of traditions and norms in favor of the fulfillment of personal
ambition. Because Confucianism was so insistent on the importance of loyalty
to the throne, and the military power of the state was so concentrated under the
king, very few officials chose to challenge the legitimacy of most kings' rule,
even though Confucian thought provided a moral justification for the deposi-
tion of immoral kings.
Depositions, nonetheless, did take place, sometimes justifiably, other times not,
but when they did, they were as much acts of desperation by politicians as acts
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