In the history of thought about law and politics, we recognize the doctrine or theory of sovereignty as the idea of supreme power, including the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of the king, the sovereignty of the people, and the sovereignty of law.
In historical practice, God's sovereignty is manifested in the role of the King who makes decisions on behalf of God, it turns out that the King in several historical anthologies is complacent with this sovereignty, making decisions that are far from divine values.
The king becomes unjust, the King can do wrong, the king's power becomes absolute.
In the history of mankind, the absolutism of power has occurred, for example at the time of the Prophet Moses (13 AD), the King of Egypt, Pharaoh, was told to be very arrogant, cruel and claimed that he was "God".
All the people were afraid and submissive, no one dared to go against his orders. Pharaoh did not hesitate to kill those who disobeyed his orders. In another story absolute power took place in Europe under the rule of King Louis XIV who also said "La Etat C'est Moi!" (country is me).
The king's power is not limited by law.
Once upon a time, all of the absolutism of power was the cause of resistance to it, from the story of the French revolution that had previously occurred in Asian history, namely the resistance of the Bugis people against the tyranny of the rulers, including by leaving their area in accordance with the philosophy held, namely "Maradeka to-Wajo'e ade' minapopuwang" which means: "The people of Wajo are free, only the law is the one in power".
This also sparked a rationalism movement that criticized the idea of the sovereignty of God and the King (read in the context of the state).
People's anger towards absolute power then shifted to people's sovereignty. The people referred to by Rousseau is a unit formed by individuals who have a will, and that will is obtained from individuals who have a will through a community agreement which Rousseau calls the general will or the Volonte Generale.
Rousseau's idea departs from the awareness of individuals about the importance of personal self-defense and protection which then binds themselves to form an entity.