← All works

Published in 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract opens with the famous declaration that 'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.' In four books it seeks the principles of a legitimate political order, grounding authority not in force or divine right but in a contract by which a people collectively forms a sovereign expressing the 'general will.' Its ideas of popular sovereignty and civic freedom profoundly shaped the French Revolution and modern democratic thought.

Sign in to readBrowse the library