One of the impacts of the population decline on the government is the sense of self-reliance. The Lords and noblemen fled away from the farmlands due to the rapid spread of the disease. In the feudal system, the lords protected the serfs and peasants. Now, the serfs and peasants had to fiend for themselves. The self-reliance and the abandonment of the government allowed the peasants and serfs to be able to start thinking for themselves. People wanted to gain secular knowledge for themselves rather than conforming to the authorities. Another impact is the demand for new labor laws. The invention of the new labor ordinances allowed the serfs and peasants to get treated better and to have more rights.