How did Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s writings influence the leaders of the French Revolution?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s political and social philosophy profoundly influenced the leaders of the French Revolution, providing a theoretical framework for their radical political changes.12

His most significant contribution was the concept of the general will, which he articulated in The Social Contract. Rousseau argued that legitimate government must be subordinate to the collective will of the people, rather than the interests of a monarch or elite. This idea became a cornerstone of modern republican thought and was explicitly reflected in Article 6 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which defines law as the expression of the general will.34

Revolutionary leaders, most notably Maximilien Robespierre, adopted Rousseau’s ideas to justify the centralization of power. Robespierre, a devoted follower of Rousseau’s Deist beliefs, interpreted the general will as a mandate for the collective dictatorship of the National Convention during the Reign of Terror, viewing it as a tool to achieve national unity and moral reform.56