The Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762Translated by G. D. H. Cole (1913)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s treatise on the foundations of legitimate government, arguing that political authority rests on a compact among free and equal citizens and on the general will of the people.

Start reading51 chapters, about 41,000 words

Famous quotes

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.
Book I, Chapter IIn context
- Freedom
- Liberty
Tranquillity is found also in dungeons; but is that enough to make them desirable places to live in?
Book I, Chapter IVIn context
- Freedom
- Liberty
To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man’s nature; to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts.
Book I, Chapter IVIn context
- Liberty
- Morality
The right of conquest has no foundation other than the right of the strongest.
Book I, Chapter IVIn context
- Power
- War & Peace
The right of slavery is null and void, not only as being illegitimate, but also because it is absurd and meaningless. The words slave and right contradict each other, and are mutually exclusive.
Book I, Chapter IVIn context
- Slavery
Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
Book III, Chapter XVIn context
- Laws
As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State What does it matter to me? the State may be given up for lost.
Book III, Chapter XVIn context
Every law the people has not ratified in person is null and void⁠—is, in fact, not a law.
Book III, Chapter XVIn context
- Democracy
- Laws
The inflexibility of the laws, which prevents them from adapting themselves to circumstances, may, in certain cases, render them disastrous, and make them bring about, at a time of crisis, the ruin of the State.
Book IV, Chapter VIIn context
- Laws

Book I

Chapter ISubject of the First Book
Chapter IIThe First Societies
Chapter IIIThe Right of the Strongest
Chapter IVSlavery
Chapter VThat We Must Always Go Back to a First Convention
Chapter VIThe Social Compact
Chapter VIIThe Sovereign
Chapter VIIIThe Civil State
Chapter IXReal Property

Book II

Chapter IThat Sovereignty Is Inalienable
Chapter IIThat Sovereignty Is Indivisible
Chapter IIIWhether the General Will Is Fallible
Chapter IVThe Limits of the Sovereign Power
Chapter VThe Right of Life and Death
Chapter VILaw
Chapter VIIThe Legislator
Chapter VIIIThe People
Chapter IXThe People (continued)
Chapter XThe People (continued)
Chapter XIThe Various Systems of Legislation
Chapter XIIThe Division of the Laws

Book III

Book III

Chapter IGovernment in General
Chapter IIThe Constituent Principle in the Various Forms of Government
Chapter IIIThe Division of Governments
Chapter IVDemocracy
Chapter VAristocracy
Chapter VIMonarchy
Chapter VIIMixed Governments
Chapter VIIIThat All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries
Chapter IXThe Marks of a Good Government
Chapter XThe Abuse of Government and Its Tendency to Degenerate
Chapter XIThe Death of the Body Politic
Chapter XIIHow the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself
Chapter XIIIThe Same (continued)
Chapter XIVThe Same (continued)
Chapter XVDeputies or Representatives
Chapter XVIThat the Institution of Government Is Not a Contract
Chapter XVIIThe Institution of Government
Chapter XVIIIHow to Check the Usurpations of Government

Book IV

Chapter IThat the General Will Is Indestructible
Chapter IIVoting
Chapter IIIElections
Chapter IVThe Roman Comitia
Chapter VThe Tribunate
Chapter VIThe Dictatorship
Chapter VIIThe Censorship
Chapter VIIICivil Religion
Chapter IXConclusion