The Social Contract

The Social Contract opens with one of the most famous sentences in political philosophy — "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains" — and proceeds to develop a radical theory of popular sovereignty grounded in the concept of the general will. Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that legitimate political authority rests not on force or divine right but on a social contract among free citizens, a vision that would directly inspire revolutionary movements across Europe and beyond.

Published in 1762 during the twilight of the Ancien Régime, The Social Contract became the virtual bible of the French Revolution; Robespierre and other revolutionary leaders invoked Rousseau's ideas to justify the overthrow of monarchy and the establishment of republican government. The work's influence extends far beyond the Revolution itself, shaping the development of Romanticism, democratic theory, and Marxist thought throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.