2.2 The Third Estate as the voice of the nation - French Revolution - OpenLearn - The O... - 24 views
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anonymous on 10 Nov 09Similar to Thomas Paine's criticism of existing institutions such as monarchy.
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He argued that sovereignty, or ultimate political power in a state, derives not from the monarch but from the ‘people’ or ‘nation’, that it must be exercised in their interest and for their benefit, that it should be controlled and circumscribed by laws, and that the ruler's tenure of office is in the nature of a trust exercised for the people's benefit and with their consent, underpinned by an implicit agreement or ‘social contract’
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additional boost, first from the success of the American Revolution and the summoning of a constitutional convention by the United States in 1787, and now in France by the summoning of the Estates-General.
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