CBSE Class 9 Answered

The middle class in France was inspired by the writings of social thinkers and philosophers. John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau were two such thinkers who rejected the idea of the divine right of the king. Rousseau propounded that the Government should be based on a social contract drawn between the people and the Government. Montesquieu, another influential thinker in his book,’ The Spirit of Laws' proposed a division of power within the government between the legislature, executive and judiciary. the ideas of these three philosophers inspired the middle class to question the unlimited power of the monarchy. Their ideas were intensively discussed in public places and were spread among people through books and newspapers. These were read aloud to those people who could not read and write.