Declaration of the Rights of Man - 1789

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

Background

The Estates General had its first meeting on May 5, 1789.  By June 23, with the king’s grudging approval, it had been transformed into the National Assembly, with the self-proclaimed goal of writing a constitution for France.  This represented a crucial victory for the assembly’s middle-class delegates, who now had an opportunity to end absolutism and the privileges of the nobility and the clergy.  The approval of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on August 27 was a step of exceptional importance.  Drawing on the political principles of English constitutionalism, the American Revolution, and the Enlightenment, this document (which served as preamble to the Constitution of 1791) summarizes the political and social goals of the French revolutionaries of 1789 and countless others in the decades to follow.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man was one of the earliest and most important political documents of the French Revolution.  The National Assembly, having just overthrown the ancient regime, decided to secure the Revolution with a declaration of principle.  The Declaration (as you know) was heavily influenced by transatlantic examples.   The English Bill of Rights was one model, but more important were the statements of rights in the American state constitutions.  These were quickly translated into French and had considerable influence upon the members of the assembly.  The Declaration of the Rights of Man is a brief but powerful statement of the central themes of the revolution: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
The political and intellectual ferment of the Revolution also gave rise to a new assertiveness by some French women.  Olympe de Gouges, the daughter of a provincial butcher, was one who felt that the declaration of 1789 did not go far enough.  In 1791, dissatisfied with the unequal position women continued to hold in spite of the Revolution, she wrote The Declaration of Rights of Women, and addressed it to the queen, rather than to Louis XVI or the National Assembly.  In it, de Gouges demanded political and social rights for women. 

 

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

Questions:

1. In what specific ways does the declaration limit the power of the crown and the authority of government?
2. What rights and responsibilities does citizenship entail?
3. What does the declaration state about the origin and purpose of law?
4. How does the concept of rights in the declaration differ from the concept of rights in the English Bill of Rights?