Jean Jacques Rousseau published The Social Contract in 1762 in Amsterdam in order to escape censorship in his native France. It is one of the most influential political treatises ever written, and was one of the prime influences of the political movement that led to the French Revolution. Authored in a moment in time when absolute Monarchies were the only permissible political institution in Europe and were considered to be endowed in power by God, Rousseau's central idea in the Social Contract that rulers had an obligation to their subjects and could be replaced if they failed to meet this obligation was nothing short of revolutionary. In shattering the conventions of the time, Rousseau planted the seed that governments were in effect based on a relationship between the governed and their rulers that could be changed at any time. This seed flourished rapidly, and grew into the American and the French Revolutions.
Rousseau's Social Contract was one of the major works of the Enlightenment movement in Europe, which spanned from the middle of the Eighteenth century to the beginning of the Nineteenth century. The Enlightenment movement was characterized by a search for progress through the use of reason and intellectual freedom. The Enlightenment challenged many of the fundamental tenets of European society, including the permissibility of slavery and the institution of the Monarchy. The enlightenment spread through Europe came at a point in time when a middle class of educated people began to burgeon. This growing class of literate, educated people expanded the market for literature, music, and philosophy, and it is not surprising that this period marked an explosion in the number of books that were published and available (Merriman, 335-350).
Jean Jacques Rousseau was one of the leading lights in the movement even though he focused much of his attention on emotion and instinct rather than intellect. The Social Contract...