Jean Jacques Rousseau Social Contract

Natural Rights (Locke) appear in the declaration of Independence as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Jean Rousseau developed the idea of the social contract and the notion of replacing a government that fails to maintain consent is cited as justification for the American Revolution against the English.

One of the most important parts of the Declaration of Independence is its preamble, and, more specifically, certain phrases contained within the preamble. Thomas Jefferson does an excellent job of explaining why the colonies are doing the things they are doing, and is very clear in stating what he and his associates think are the “unalienable rights” of the American people. Among these are “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Probably one of the most famous lines in American history, I have chosen to focus on this phrase and what those three things might have meant to Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers as they prepared this document, as well as what they mean to us today.

One of the primary sources that demonstrates the global influences of the Atlantic revolutionary movements and Enlightenment views on human rights is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. This primary source was written by the French National Assembly including Marquis de Lafayette during the French Revolution. Thomas Jefferson served as an ambassador to France and also helped write the majority of the American Declaration of Independence. Because of Jefferson, the French and American declarations were quite similar. During all of the Atlantic revolutions, areas were trying to implement basic human rights for all equal men. The French declaration states that public misfortune and government corruption is caused by ignorance and neglect. With that

It is no surprise that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the American Bill of rights share many similarities. The Bill of Rights restated many ideas from the Virginia Declaration of Rights, crafted by George Mason. The Declaration of the Rights of Man was also influenced by Mason’s ideas during the framing of the document. Both pieces were heavily influenced by John Locke’s philosophies of every man’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The similarities between the documents show their close connection in idea and

The Senate should consider every Federal Judge that is nominated by the president.  After the president takes the time to consider and nominate a possible judge, the Senate should show respect by considering the president and his decisions.  This keeps a good working relationship between the Senate and the president.  The Constitution says the president needs the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint a Federal Judge.  The Senate did not respond to President Obama’s nomination of a federal judge, so the nomination expired.  When President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch and Senate did give advice and consent.

This leads to the Declaration of Independence which was adopted July 4, 1776. This document was meant as a self-esteem boost for the new Americans; giving them inalienable rights. “The most important statement in the declaration is the human rights, where the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are extolled” (Gaynor). “He [Thomas Jefferson] wrote: "... it was intended to be an expression of the American mind" (Early America). Jefferson meant that the American people wanted freedom from high taxes and the big government in England.

The French Revolution produced many changes both in France and in Europe as a whole. The most evident change brought by the French Revolution was the move from absolutism to republicanism that represents a shift towards democracy. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which was announced in 1789, was arguably the foundations of the human rights and many constitutions in democratic countries like the Britain and America. The concept is based on the “natural rights” that were established as universal moral standards and it significantly influenced many revolutions, especially the American Revolution. Ironically, the idea of “natural rights” was not universal as the rights for women and slaves were excluded when it was first conceived; these rights were only applied to certain groups of people, which is unnatural. The two declarations of rights of man and woman, and a public speech by Frederick Douglass describe similar attempts of gaining the rights, and liberties of the individual but their approaches to the subject are different. The Declaration of Rights of Women and a speech modified the Declaration of Rights of Man to extend the denotation of the other individuals to include women and slavery. Thus, although the Rights of Man and Citizen was considered as a significant basis of defining rights, it only generated more unrighteousness and conflict in the long run as it was missing two important subjects.

     The year was sixteen hundred and eighty-nine and a man by the name of John Locke wrote Second Treatise on Government (Zinn 73). In it, Locke wrote that in a natural state everyone, all people, are born free and equal, and possess certain rights. He said that these “natural rights” were life, liberty, and property. He also said that the evildoers who conspired to deprive others of their life, liberty, or property ruined the good life of the state of nature (Locke). The only way to protect these rights is by joining together to form governments. The power of government, then, stems from the consent of the governed, which entrust the government with responsibility for protecting

France’s, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, played an integral role in the development of democracy and the pursuit of liberty throughout Europe. This document was written and introduced by General Lafayette as a result of the French Revolution. The French Constituent Assembly passed it in August of 1789. Influenced by Thomas Jefferson, the American Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers, the document reiterates the values of the French Revolution. Declaring that the rights of man should be universal and remain valid no matter the time or place. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was a very purposeful document expressing many of the ideas of the French Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

Since the beginning of the modern age, governments and states have existed in order to maintain moral law. Essentially these institutions are for the greater good of humanity. However, little thought is ever given to how humans lived without governments. Each and every person in the modern age is born into a state, and becomes a part of that state regardless of their will. The concept that humans are born into a state is derived from the social contract. The social contract is a voluntary agreement that allows for the mutual benefit between individuals and governments with regards to the protection and regulation of affairs between members in society. Essentially the idea is that citizens will give up some of their freedoms to the government in return for protection of their remaining rights. Throughout history, there have been a number of philosophers that have discussed the social contract and each philosopher has had there own social contract theories. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes was the foundation for social contract theory in Western political philosophy. While The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau was written a century later and inspired political reforms in Europe. Both Hobbes and Rousseau in their theories appeal to the social contract as being needed as a means to control man in society. However, their theories differ significantly on the basis of the state of nature, the phase after man has left his natural state and

The Declaration of Independence uses many of the beliefs that are central to Locke’s Two Treaties of Government, which are all still very important to us today. Beliefs such as all people are equal, their natural rights, and the government’s role in its citizens lives was the foundation to building the United States the world knows today. The focal points in their two documents are almost exactly the same; Locke emphasizes people’s natural rights in the statement “that being all equal and independent, no one ought to hurt ones life, liberty, or property", while Jefferson highlights them by saying “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." It is commonly speculated that Jefferson’s first draft of Declaration of Independence actually copied Locke verbatim by saying “life, liberty, and property”, rather than “pursuit of happiness”. While this has never been proven, it shows how Jefferson utilized Locke’s ideas.

Over the course of history this idea of freedom has been developed and defined by many famous political and philosophical thinkers. Many of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas are acknowledged in the “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” and more notably the “The Social Contract”. John Stuart Mill’s major points originate from a book called “On Liberty”. All of these works are still read today and taught in schools around the world. In particular, their ideas on freedom and liberty have drawn a considerable amount of attention. For instance, Rousseau is well known for his idea of “forcing citizens to be free”, while Mill claims that freedom can be found in “pursing our own good in our own way”. Therefore, it is evident that fundamental differences occur between Rousseau’s and Mill’s ideas on liberty and freedom. Rousseau’s rejects this classical liberal idea of freedom of the individual, and instead argues that the highest quality of freedom is achieved through a social contract where collective decisions represent the law and people have a duty to the state, while Mill sees freedom as not being constrained by the government (freedom from laws) and pursuing one’s own good as long as it does no harm to others.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an Enlightenment thinker during the eighteenth century and is most noted for his work The Social Contract. The Social Contract published in 1762 and is a philosophical document that expresses the ideas of popular sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty is a form of government in which “the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.” This is basically a fancy way of saying that the people have the power of authority of their government and the people should decide how they are governed. Like The Social Contract, the Declaration of Independence is a document that sets out to explain the relationship between a government and its people based on an an understanding of that relationship. The Declaration of Independence was composed by Thomas Jefferson in 1766, and shares many of the same ideals as The Social Contract. The Social Contract and the Declaration of Independence are more similar than different because Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced John Locke, whose Social Contract Theories directly influenced Thomas Jefferson during the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

Social Contract is the belief that the state exists to serve the will of the people and they are the main political power of the state. Also it is the idea that in the beginning man lived in the state of nature, there was no government or law. Individuals were born into a lawless state of nature, which was happy or unhappy. By this exercise of natural reason formed a society and made a contract amongst themselves. With this agreement it secures life, liberty and property. Individuals grant authority to government, which is valid as long as the government protects natural rights.

How to Create Social Contract for a Free Nation. Before the Declaration of Independence or the French revolution, a man named Jean Jacques Rousseau created “The Origin of Civil Society”, which would be a catalyst for the creation of democracy as it is seen today. This analysis will show how Rousseau believed that civil society is a concept that can be reached; but only when we go against our human nature and establish a social contract that would be for the people’s best interest. Rousseau begins his document by writing a short prompt about how he was trying to figure out if there was a way to have a stable government that was civil and what the framework of that society would look like (Rousseau).