'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains'

Jean-Jacques Rousseau opened The Social Contract (1762) with that line, then spent the book asking how people could live under laws and still be free. His answer was the 'general will': legitimate authority comes only from citizens collectively willing the common good, not from any king's claim to rule. The idea influenced the French Revolution and still underpins modern arguments for democratic legitimacy.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract — 1762
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