ean- Jacques Rousseau. In the Encyclopedia, the authors generally endorsed absolute monarchy as long as it was efficient and just. They supported civil rights, freedom of expression, and the rule of law. In the Montesquieu book, The Spirit of Laws, he analyzed the aspect of political liberty. Political liberty, he stated, required checks on those who held power to the state. Liberty can only thrive with a balance of powers, created by the separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government. In Rousseau's book, The Social Contract, Rousseau states that the people should make laws, and the ruler must listen to the people. In addition to this concept of an ideal society, Rousseau instigates the concept of "general will." Deferring to the general will means that an individual must do what is best for everybody, not what's best for them
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