Jean Jacques Rousseau and the Declaration of Independence Essay

Jean Jacques Rousseau and the solution of Independence - Essay ExampleJean Jacques Rousseau and the resolving of IndependenceOne of the ways that this can most distinctly be seen is at heart the founding record of the American movement of independence, the solution of Independence. Although many individuals doubtless influenced upon the way in which Thomas Jefferson ultimately authored the firmness of purpose of Independence, Jean Jacques Rousseau is and was one of the most important and prominent influential factors in the way that this particular inventory was understood and ultimately represented. Accordingly, I will seek to draw a very clear railway system of distinction between some of the primary and fundamental aspects of the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau within the document of the resolve of Independence. However, before delving too deeply into comparisons and contrasts of the works of Rousseau and the Declaration of Independence, a further level of analysis with regards to the Declaration of Independences most prominent author, Thomas Jefferson, must be engaged with. Thomas Jefferson is cognize by many historians to be one of the most prominent and influential founding fathers of the fall in States. However, he was in like manner a very prominent philosopher, inventor, writer, and Francophile. Accordingly, it comes as little surprise that Thomas Jefferson would have leaned intemperately upon the writings and reasonablenesss exhibited by Jean Jacques Rousseau as a means of crafting this fundamental explanation of how and why the United States determined to free itself from English colonial bonds. (Declaration of Independence 1). One of the most fundamental aspects of Rousseaus understanding of political thought and theory relates to the fact that he believed in the existence of what he termed a friendly contract between the mass. Rousseau was fundamentally opposed to the idea that the divine right of kings allowed for an efficient and /or straightforward means of governance. This can, of course, be traced back to what many have termed Enlightenment thinking. He, like many heaven thinkers questioned whether or not the divine right of kings was sufficient evidence to compel the people into servitude. Further, his works abduce the understanding that a rule by the masses would represent a far-off more equitable approach (Storey 748). Ultimately, this was the same belief system that not only precipitated the American Revolution but also the French Revolution shortly thereafter. Many scholars have referred to this idea as early republicanism i.e. the belief that the people under the form of an elected government were ultimately much better able to determine their suffer future then the distant, and ultimately uncaring monarchy that existed at that time. Although it may be convenient to assume that Rousseau was the graduation political thinker to come up with such a theory, this can be traced as far back as the an cient Greeks in the form of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. The existence and definition of this level of freedom which to each one and every man should exhibit was defined by Rousseau as something gifted by nature and/or of the natural order (Feinstein 14). At this juncture, the reader can aptly note the idea of self-determination, as exhibited within the Declaration of Independence, was a natural right and not something that was merely created by definition. Thomas Jefferson, and other framers of the Declaration of