Who created the concept of a social contract? thomas hobbes john locke baron de montesquieu jean-jacques rousseau

From among those choices, the first writer on the social contract was:

THOMAS HOBBES

Explanation/detail:

We could go back much further in history and talk about Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, because Socrates already expressed views about an implied social contract when he was put on trial by the city of Athens.

But as far as modern history and Enlightenment thinkers, all four of those named in this question's list wrote about the social contract -- but Hobbes was the first.

Thomas Hobbes published a famous work called Leviathan in 1651.  The title "Leviathan" comes from a biblical word for a great and mighty beast.  Hobbes believed government is formed by people for the sake of their personal security and stability in society.  In Hobbes view, once the people put a king (or other leader in power), then that leader needs to have supreme power (like a great and mighty beast).    Hobbes' view of the natural state of human beings without a government held that people are too divided and too volatile as individuals -- everyone looking out for his own interests.  So for security and stability, authority and the power of the law needs to be in the hands of a powerful ruler like a king or queen.  And so people willingly enter a "social contract" in which they live under a government that provides stability and security for society.

Probably the most famous set of lines from Hobbes' Leviathan book describes what he saw as the natural state of human affairs without government -- one in which every individual had freedom, but that meant it was a situation of "war of all against all," or we might say, every man for himself.  Hobbes wrote:

i think they should to be honest

explanation:

the  seven  days  battles  were  a series of seven battles over seven  days from june 25 to july 1, 1862, near richmond, virginia,  during  the american civil war. the  seven  days ended with mcclellan's army in relative safety next to the james river, having suffered almost 16,000 casualtiesduring  the retreat.