"If then, we discard from the social compact what is not of its essence, we shall find that it reduces itself to the following terms: 'Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.'... The social pact, far from destroying natural equality, substitutes a moral and lawful equality for whatever physical inequality nature may have imposed on mankind; so that however unequal in strength or intelligence, men all become equal by covenant and by right."
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, *The Social Contract*, 1762
Which of the following political principles of the Enlightenment is most directly expressed in this passage?
- Popular sovereignty, where political authority is derived from the consent of the governedAnswer
- BMercantilism, which prioritized strict government control over trade and national wealth
- CSocial Darwinism, which argued that biological differences justified unequal treatment of individuals
- DAnti-colonialism, which demanded national independence from foreign imperial rule