The French Revolution followed in the wake of and to a degree imitated the American Revolution, and both derived much of their theoretical base from several political and social theorists, notably John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau was an especially potent force in the French Revolution, as might be expected given the fact that he was a Frenchman and that he had championed the right of the people to overthrow a despotic government. Inherent in the writings of Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau is the idea of a contract as the basis of society and as the wellspring of government. The individual is seen as existing in one state in nature and in a different state in society, and the act of coming together in society is based on the social contract (though this is viewed somewhat differently by the three writers, though each sees it as the basis of society, as a voluntary agreement, and as both the source of government power and the protection of the individual from that power).
After Rousseau and the others, the sovereign was no longer seen as ruling by divine right. He did have to answer to the people, and both the people and the sovereign had to behave in accordance with the law. That law is to be the touchstone for the sovereign to determine how to govern. These are standing laws--they are not developed at the whim of the sovereign to cope with each situation that arises. They are also to be "known to the people," which means that they are not to be secret and are instead to be known so the people can determine whether the sovereign is living up to these laws or not. He serves at their sufferance. The French Revolution was effected when a people reached the end of their sufferance of a monarchy and aristocracy seen as corrupt and self-serving and not as serving the needs of the people. The philosophy of Rousseau was an important element in French revolutionary thought.
Jean Jacques Rou...