On the Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712'¬ ;1778) was a major philosopher of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution, as well as the American Revolution and the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought. ON THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, OR PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL RIGHT is the book in which Rousseau theorized about the best way in which to set up a political community in the face of the problems found in commercial society. This book was a progressive work that helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in France, along with the rest of Europe, and beyond. It argued against the idea that rulers were divinely empowered to legislate; as Rousseau asserts, only the people should have that all-powerful right.