As opposed to people in general, a people or the people (as in “we the people…”) refers to a group of individuals who view themselves as a community with common interests and who band together to form a nation (or republic, or body politic). When they do so, the people become both citizens of their nation (in the sense that they are responsible for leading it and building its laws) and subjects of their nation (in the sense that they must obey the state and laws they have formed).
The People Quotes in The Social Contract
The The Social Contract quotes below are all either spoken by The People or refer to The People. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2, Chapter 7
Quotes
Whoever ventures on the enterprise of setting up a people must be ready, shall we say, to change human nature, to transform each individual, who by himself is entirely complete and solitary, into a part of a much greater whole, from which that same individual will then receive, in a sense, his life and his being. The founder of nations must weaken the structure of man in order to fortify it, to replace the physical and independent existence we have all received from nature with a moral and communal existence. In a word each man must be stripped of his own powers, and given powers which are external to him, and which he cannot use without the help of others. The nearer men’s natural powers are to extinction or annihilation, and the stronger and more lasting their acquired powers, the stronger and more perfect is the social institution.
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Book 3, Chapter 12
Quotes
The sovereign, having no other force than the legislative power, acts only through the laws, and since the laws are nothing other than authentic acts of the general will, the sovereign can act only when the people is assembled.
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The People Term Timeline in The Social Contract
The timeline below shows where the term The People appears in The Social Contract. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 4: Slavery
...legitimate authority among men must be based on covenants.” While Grotius might be right that people sometimes accept slavery in exchange for having their basic needs met, this does not apply...
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Book 1, Chapter 5: That We Must Always Go Back To an Original Covenant
...even if slavery were legitimate, it is not a reasonable analogy to governance, because the people “have a common good” and constitute “a body politic.” Someone who “enslave[s] half the world”...
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Book 1, Chapter 6: The Social Pact
...“active[ly]” makes laws); or a power (when compared with other nations). Its members are “a people” made of individual “citizens” who are also “subjects” to their collective sovereign power.
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Book 2, Chapter 2: That Sovereignty is Indivisible
...so any will that is divided, or only the will “of a part” of the people, is not truly sovereign. It is true that many governments are divided among different branches,...
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Book 2, Chapter 3: Whether the General Will Can Err
...always rightful and always tends to the public good,” this does not mean that the people always know what is in their best interests. Rousseau distinguishes “the general will,” which is...
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Book 2, Chapter 6: On Law
...general. So, to be a law, a rule must be made by and for “the people as a whole […] without any division whatsoever.” Therefore, “the law considers all subjects collectively...
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Book 2, Chapter 7: The Lawgiver
...powers and a non-existent authority for its execution.” And they must also speak to the people in terms they can understand, for it takes good government to create “the social spirit”...
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Book 2, Chapter 8: The People
Before “laying down good laws,” lawgivers must ensure that the people will support those laws. Unfortunately, “once customs are established and prejudices rooted,” they are difficult...
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Book 2, Chapter 10: The People: Continued
...and density will depend on the kind and quality of land, as well as the people’s rate of population growth. Finally, forming a state also requires “peace and plenty,” while tyrants...
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Rousseau concludes that there are many conditions that must be met for a people to be “fit to receive laws.” They must not already be organized into a state,...
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Book 3, Chapter 1: Of Government in General
...legislative and executive powers, respectively, which must work together to enact the general will. The people hold the legislative power, but they cannot hold the executive power, because this encompasses “particular...
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The government communicates between the sovereign and the subjects (which are different perspectives on the people). To function well, the sovereign, government, and subjects must remain in balance—Rousseau explains this in...
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Book 3, Chapter 2: The Constitutive Principle of the Different Forms of Government
...the self-interested personal will, the “corporate will” of the government, and the sovereign (or the people’s) will. While in theory a magistrate should let the sovereign will dominate their decision-making, in...
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Book 3, Chapter 4: Democracy
...but this creates a situation Rousseau calls “government without government.” Namely, “the body of the people” should stay focused on making the laws, rather than implementing them in relation to “particular...
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Book 3, Chapter 5: Aristocracy
Rousseau reminds the reader that the government ultimately works and speaks for the sovereign (the people). Then, he distinguishes three different kinds of aristocracy: “natural, elective and hereditary.” Natural aristocracy involves...
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Book 3, Chapter 6: Monarchy
...to amass absolute power, and while they get some power from being beloved by the people, this is usually not enough. In fact, what’s even better for a king is for...
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...because monarchies vest all power in one magistrate’s hands, kings become too disconnected from the people, so they create “social orders” (like nobility) to fill the gap. This would not work...
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Book 3, Chapter 9: The Signs of a Good Government
There is no single “best government,” because this question always depends on the territory and people governed. But there still could be “signs” that show “whether a given people is well...
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Book 3, Chapter 12: How the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself
...the general will. Of course, in order to truly express this general will, all “the people” would need to assemble together, which happened in the past, even if it seems unfathomable...
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Book 3, Chapter 13: The Same—Continued
Beyond creating a constitution, establishing laws, and setting up a government, the people must meet regularly, in a manner set forth by the law. The stronger (or more...
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Book 3, Chapter 14: The Same—Continued
When the people actually assemble in their capacity as the sovereign, the government or executive branch is momentarily...
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Book 3, Chapter 18: Means of Preventing the Usurpation of Government
...become[s] incompatible with the public welfare.” Still, it is important to ensure that the “whole people” wants government replaced and that this government will not try “usurp[ing] the sovereign authority.” This...
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Book 4, Chapter 1: That the General Will is Indestructible
When people get together and form a state, they create a common will and begin implementing it....
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Book 4, Chapter 4: The Roman Comitia
...the comitia made laws and elected magistrates, so all Romans could vote, and “the Roman people was truly sovereign.” Convened under the legally permitted circumstances, these comitia essentially functioned as the...
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There were three different kinds of comitia throughout Roman history. The first gave the people a voice against the Senate, but it also let wealthy patricians pay “clients” to persuade...
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Book 4, Chapter 5: The Tribunate
...called a tribunate is necessary to balance power among the sovereign, the government, and the people. It is neither legislative nor executive—in fact, “it can do nothing” at all, but it...
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Book 4, Chapter 6: Dictatorship
...who will “silence all the laws and temporarily suspend the sovereign authority.” Although the sovereign people cannot make laws while the “supreme head” or dictator has power, its general will still...
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...failed to do this in its later years, when a dictator could have preserved the people’s freedom against a rogue government or easily stopped seditious conspiracies. Instead, it gave power to...
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