Book I: Man Is Born Free But Everywhere in Chains
Now we get to the main event. The Social Contract itself. And Rousseau opens it with one of the most famous sentences in political philosophy:
“Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
That is it. That is the whole problem. People are born free, yet they live under authority everywhere. How did that happen? And can it ever be made legitimate?
Rousseau says he does not know how it happened. But he thinks he can answer whether it can be justified. That is what the rest of the book is about.
The Family Is the Only Natural Society
In Chapter 2, Rousseau looks at the family. Children need their father to survive, so they obey him. But once that need ends, the natural bond dissolves. If the family stays together after that, it is by choice, not by nature.
Here’s why this matters. People argued that kings rule over people the way a father rules over his family. It is natural. Rousseau says no. Even in a family, the authority ends when the children grow up. A king has even less claim to natural authority over adults.
He then goes after Grotius and Hobbes, two big names in political philosophy who had argued that rulers naturally have power over their people. Rousseau’s summary of their position is brutal: “So there we have the human race divided into herds of cattle, each with its ruler who tends it that he may devour it.”
He also takes a shot at Aristotle, who said some people are born for slavery. Rousseau’s response is sharp: “Every man born in slavery is born for slavery, nothing is surer.” Slaves seem to accept their condition. But that is because slavery broke them, not because they were made for it. “Force made the first slaves, their cowardice has perpetuated them.”
Force Does Not Create Right
Chapter 3 is short and devastating. Rousseau takes on the idea that might makes right. If the strongest person is always right, then the moment someone stronger comes along, that new person is right instead. There is no stability. It is just power changing hands.
And if you only obey because you are forced to, there is no moral duty involved. The moment the force disappears, so does your obligation.
Rousseau puts it perfectly: “If you have to obey by force, you do not need to obey out of duty; and if you are no longer forced to obey, you are no longer obliged to do so.”
He even uses a robbery analogy. If a bandit holds a pistol to your head, you give him your wallet. But are you morally obligated to? Of course not. So why would we say that a government ruling purely by force has a moral right to do so?
Slavery Is Absurd
Chapter 4 is the longest in this section. Rousseau goes after slavery from every angle.
First, the economic argument. Some said people could sell themselves into slavery. But Rousseau asks: what does a whole people get in return for giving themselves to a king? The king lives off the people, not the other way around. They are not getting a deal. They are getting robbed.
What about peace and security? A despot might say he keeps order. But Rousseau asks: what kind of peace? “One may live at peace even in a dungeon. Is that enough to feel at ease there?” He compares it to the Greeks trapped in the Cyclops’ cave, living peacefully while waiting to be eaten one by one.
Then the consent argument. To say a person freely gives himself into slavery is “absurd and unthinkable.” And even if one person could somehow do this, he cannot sign away his children’s freedom. They are born free. Their liberty belongs to them.
Here is the strongest line in the chapter: “To renounce your liberty is to renounce your character as a man, the rights and even the duties of humanity.”
Rousseau also destroys the war argument. People said you could enslave prisoners of war because you had the right to kill them and chose mercy instead. But Rousseau says war is between states, not individuals. Once a soldier lays down his arms, he is just a person again. You have no right over his life. And if you have no right to kill him, you cannot use that nonexistent right as the basis for enslaving him.
His final verdict: “The words slavery and right are contradictory; they mutually exclude one another.”
Before a People Can Submit, It Must First Be a People
Chapter 5 is brief but crucial. Even if you accept every argument Rousseau just demolished, you still have a problem. Before a people can give itself to a king, it has to be a people first. There has to be some prior agreement that makes a collection of individuals into a community.
And that agreement has to be unanimous. Because even majority rule only works if everyone first agreed that the majority gets to decide. Otherwise, why should ten people who want freedom submit to a hundred who want a king?
This is Rousseau setting up the social contract itself. He has knocked down every false justification for authority. Natural authority does not exist. Force does not create right. Slavery is nonsensical. Now he needs to find what actually does make political authority legitimate.
And that is what comes next.
Previous: Freedom, Government, and Democracy According to Rousseau Next: Book I: The Social Pact and Why We Need It