On the Social Contract
1762 · 356 pages
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Nobody holds natural authority over anyone, Rousseau argues, so law binds you only if you helped make it. Geneva burned the book.
★ 7.3
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Spirit of the Laws
1748 · 757 pages
Montesquieu sorts governments into republics that run on virtue, monarchies on honor, and despotisms on fear, then argues that liberty survives only where power is divided. The American framers read him closely.
★ 7.5