deprived; no one shall
be subject to any duty from another is exempt.--On the other hand, all
being free, each enters with a free will along with the group of
wills constitute the new community; it is necessary that in the common
resolutions he should fully concur. Only on these conditions does he
bind himself; he is bound to respect laws only because he has assisted
in making them, and to obey magistrates only because he has aided in
electing them. Underneath all legitimate authority his consent or his
vote must be apparent, while, in the humblest citizen, the most exalted
of public powers must recognize a member of their own sovereignty.
No one may alienate or lose this portion of his sovereignty; it is
inseparable from his person, and, on delegating it to another, he
reserves to himself full possession of it.--The liberty, equality and
sovereignty of the people constitute the first articles of the social
contract. These are rigorously deduced from a primary definition; other
rights of the citizen are to be no less rigorously deduced from it,
the main features of the constitution, the most important civil and
political laws, in short, the order, the form and the spirit of the new
state.

II. Naive Convictions

The first result.--The theory easily applied.--Confidence in
it due to belief in man's inherent goodness and
reasonableness.

Hence, two consequences.--In the first place, a society thus organized
is the only just one; for, the reverse of all others, it is not the
result of a blind subjection to traditions, but of a contract concluded
among equals, examined in open daylight, and assented to in full
freedom.[3405] The social contract, composed of demonstrated theorems,
has the authority of geometry; hence an equal value at all times,
in every place, and for every people; it is accordingly rightfully
established. Those who put an obstacle in its way are enemies of the
human race; whether a government, an aristocracy or a clergy, they must
be overthrown. Revolt is simply just defense; in withdrawing ourselves
from their hands we only recover what is wrongfully held and which
legitimately belongs to us.--In the second place, this social code, as
just set forth, once promulgated, is applicable without misconception
or resistance; for it is a species of moral geometry, simpler than any
other, reduced to first principles, founded on the clearest and most
popular notions, and, in four steps, le