History and Context: Rousseau

Jean Jacques Rousseau lived from 1712-1778, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution. He is known as the founder of Romanticism, and was interested in the state of nature, before Government existed.

"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754

One of Rousseau's most influential works is "The Social Contract"

http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon_01.htm

It was published in 1762 in which Rousseau claims that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality According to Rousseau, by joining together into civil society through the social contract and abandoning their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the general will of the people as a whole guarantees individuals ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law. Therefore, the General Will was made up of laws which all the people agreed with, and so they are obeying only themselves.

Rousseau also argues that soveriegnty should be in the hands of the people, however the Government, composed of Magistrates, should enforce the law.

Rousseau also famously said that those who do not obey the general will will be forced to be free, as they are going against themselves.

One of Rousseau's followers was Maximilien Robespierre, later used this, alongside the idea that man should have the right to own property, but not too much, and created the guillotine. He used this device to execute all those whom broke the general will, including King Louis XVI, amongst 20,000 others in the Reign of Terror. He was later executed himself.