Rousseau's Changes In Government During The Enlightenment Era

The Enlightenment Era consisted of numerous changes in politics, philosophy, and government. France had always been ruled under kings and his supporters, however, the common citizens grew impatient with this form of government and started questioning whether or not it was the best style. Jean Jacques Rousseau greatly impacted the changes in government during the Enlightenment Era. Rousseau, like the other philosophes, pushed to benefit the social and political power of the common citizen. He argued that the individual freedoms and the right and ability for people to govern themselves were natural rights that should be practiced by the people. By criticizing the French society and government, Rousseau inspired changes of individual freedoms and rights. These changes later sparked the desire of other …show more content…
In 1762, one of his most famous works, The Social Contract, was written. The document explained that “social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights” (Rousseau 6). Rousseau desired eliminate the French monarchy by returning the social freedoms and rights back to citizens. Through examining the individual freedoms and rights, Rousseau constructed a basis for a democracy in France. He inspired citizens to demand for more rights so that it would increase their individual power while it decreased the monarch’s power over the citizens and government. In America, colonists noticed that the French broke away from old styles of government because of the influence of the new Enlightenment ideas and Rousseau’s influence. The ideas also inspired them to seek more individual rights, as well as demand freedom from England. Although monarchs opposed Rousseau’s ideas, imprisoned him, and banned The Social Contract, he remained devoted to arguing for the social and individual freedoms that citizens continued to practice in modern day France and