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. Discuss the main causes of the French Revolution. John Locke based many of his political writings on the idea of the social contract. Kelly, Martin. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/social-contract-in-politics-105424. From the 16th to 18th century, countries in Europe were experiencing new ideas and reforms. French Revolution | History, Summary, Timeline, Causes, & Facts But this seemed a remote possibility as the Revolution and its wars expanded. But Rousseau also believed in the possibility of a genuine social contract, one in which people would receive in exchange for their independence a better kind of freedom, namely true political, or republican, liberty. Did the fault lie with the new political elite, because they excluded the lower classes from the optimistic prospects for change? Your email address will not be published. The 4 August decrees, largely a response to this upheaval, initially quieted the countryside and soon cemented the peasants to the revolutionary cause. What was the goal of the Enlightenment era? Martin Kelly, M.A., is a history teacher and curriculum developer. What impact did the social contract have? When news of this rural unrest reached the newly renamed National Assembly in Paris, its deputies, feeling pressured to stay ahead of events in the countryside, responded by announcing the "abolition of feudalism." Consequently, documents on life in the countryside at this time reflect the omnipresence of poverty. Thus individuals and groups constantly negotiated with one another and with the crown for more and better privileges. 6 He wants to create the creature that is in tune with the needs of modern society and follows the political path outlined in the . https://www.thoughtco.com/social-contract-in-politics-105424 (accessed May 1, 2023). Louis XVI was predominately the king during this time period but little did he know that an uprising among the peasants was happening. What does Enterococcus faecalis look like? This pamphlet was one of the documents that changed the world and lit the flame toward the French Revolution, as characterized by Joe Janes, a University of Washington professor (Janes). Rousseau was a major supporter of the French Revolution, and all revolutions in general. separation of church and state, and the social contract, for instance, greatly influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States as they planned their new country. g. Bourgeoisie, Translate the following quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau into your own words. The French Revolution had general . How did these ideas influence the American and French Revolutions? Prior to the French Revolution, people generally lived in the form of government that had been in place for centuries and that form was monarchy in most places. In France, the people were divided into three separate social estates, clergy, nobility, and the commoner as the lowest and the highest above all of course would be the king. - Its population of 27 million was divided, as it