(3) and (4).

The different forms of government; the indestructible character of the general will of the community; and civil religion.
The whole work teems with generalisations, mostly ill-founded, and the details are not in agreement.

The one thing of permanent value is the conception that the State represents the "general will" of the community.
How that "general will" finds expression and gets its way is of great importance to democracy.

Even more important is the nature of that "general will." Individualist as Rousseau was in his views about personal property (following Locke in an apparent ideal of peasant proprietorship), he insisted on the subjection of personal rights to the safety of the Commonwealth.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE The resistance of the American colonies to the British Government did not commence with any spirit of independence.

The tea incident at Boston took place in 1773, and it was not till three years later that the Declaration of Independence was drawn up.