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Summary Of Jean Domat's On Social Order And Absolute Monarchy

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Post Thirty Years war left France looking for a new leadership style that would give plenty of stability. What France received was Louis XIV, who would reign under the new absolute monarchy government. During Louis’ reign, divine rights controlled rank in society. This left many confused on why they were picked to be at the bottom of society, and why the king was given his power. Jean Domat, a royally appointed juror by king Louis helped explain a better understanding of the new system of governance to the people of France in his writings. Domat wrote “On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy” to defend the king’s powers, and to give a better understanding of the hierarchy type system so ordinary people would accept it.
Jean Domat’s life goal was explaining absolutism. Since he was not a king and seen as a regular person, people at his time can get a better understanding of the system when someone like him explains it. He explained that the king was given his power through God and is responsible to no one but God. At first this may not have caught the attention of the people, but when Domat tells that disobeying their king is the same as disobeying God it is the …show more content…

Why? Mentioned before, Domat was a royally appointed writer and he owed his position to King Louis. Therefore, his duty was to help people realize that King Louis XIV is a great leader, and that the new government is a change going towards the right direction. Since he worked under the king, he wrote “On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy” knowing that he would be able to convince France to accept not only their new king, but the absolute monarchy government. He proved to be very successful once this was read by his attended audience. He was so successful that King Louis XIV wrote him a pension (Domat). This pension would help pay for his future publications as told in the

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