The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

10 points

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 a 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 the Citizen (DRMC) on August 27 was a step of exceptional
importance. Drawing on the principles of English constitutionalism, the American Revolution, and
Enlightenment Ideas, this document summarizes the political and social goals of the French revolutionaries
of 1789 and countless others in the decades to follow.

Assignment:
Read the Declaration of the Rights of Man and answer the questions for analysis.

Questions for Analysis

1.​ What are the “natural rights” asserted by the DRMC?
Rights everyone in society has that cant be delt away with from executive and legislative powers.
2.​ How does the DRMC define liberty?
Liberty is the idea of not taking away peoples natural rights and to limit that is not giving liberty to the free
people.
3.​ What does the DRMC state about the origin and purpose of law?
Origin is from the public misery and corruption of the gov which when DRMC is in place is the middle of
everyone’s happiness.
4.​ Which article addresses free speech?
11
5.​ What does the DRMC say about taxes?
Taxes can be investigated by the person paying if they are in suspicion that they aren’t being used
accordingly.
6.​ What aspects of Enlightenment thought are reflected in the DRMC? Identify 2 connections.
Everyone is their own individual and can share their own thoughts, and to be religiously tolerant unless
otherwise annoying the general public
7.​ In what specific ways does the DRMC limit the power of the crown and the authority of the
government? Identify 3.
LImited by the law, no one can take land unless needed on a public level, and authority is for everyone’s gain
and not the one with power.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

August 27, 1789

​ The representatives of the people of France, empowered to act as a National Assembly, taking into
consideration that ignorance, oblivion, or scorn of the rights of man are the only cause of public misery and
the corruption of government, have resolved to state in a solemn declaration to the natural, inalienable, and
sacred rights of man, so that this declaration, continually offered to all the members of society, may forever
recall them to their rights and duties; so that the actions of the legislative and executive power, be able to be
compared at every instant to the goal of any political institution, may be more respected; so that the demands
of the citizens, from now on based straightforward and incontestable principles, will revolve around the
maintenance of the constitution and the happiness of everyone.
​ Consequently, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the
auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and citizen:
Article
1.​ Men are born free and remain equal in rights; social distinctions van be established only for the
common benefit.
2.​ The goal of every political association is the conservation of the natural and indefeasible rights of
man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3.​ The source of all sovereignty is located in the nation; no body, no individual can exercise authority
which does emanate from it expressly.
4.​ Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm another. Thus the exercise of the
natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assume to other members of society the
enjoyment of these same rights; these limits can be determined only by law.
5.​ The law has the right to prohibit only those actions harmful to society. All that is not prohibited by
the law cannot be hindered, and no one can be forced to do what it does not order.
6.​ The law is the expression of the general will; all citizens have the right to concur personally or
through their representative in its formation; it must be the same for everyone, whether it protects or
punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all honors, offices, and public
employments, according to their abilities and without any distinction other than those of their virtues
and talents.
7.​ No man can be accused, arrested, or detained except in instances determined by the law, and
according to the practices which it has prescribed. Those who solicit, draw up, carry out, or have
carried out arbitrary orders must be punished; but any citizen summoned or seized by virtue of the
law must obey instantly; he renders himself guilty by resisting.
8.​ The law must establish only penalties which are strictly and plainly necessary, and no one can be
punished except in virtue of a law established and published prior to the offense and legally applied.
9.​ Every man being presumed innocent until he has been declared guilty, it is judged indispensable to
arrest him, all harshness that is not necessary for making secure his person must be severely limited
by the law.
10.​ No one may be disturbed because of his opinions, even religious, provided that their public
manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11.​ The free communication of thought and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man; every
citizen can therefore freely speak, write and print, except he is answerable to abuses of liberty in
instances determined by law.
12.​ The guaranteeing of the rights of man and citizen requires a public force; this force is therefore
instituted for the advantage of everyone, not for the private of those to whom it is entrusted.
13.​ For the maintenance of the public force, and for the expenses of administration, a tax supported in
common is indispensable; it must be apportioned among all citizens on grounds of their capacity to
pay.
14.​ All citizens have the right to determine for themselves or through their representatives the need for
taxation of the public, to consent to it freely, to investigate its use, and to determine its rate, basis,
collection, and duration.
15.​ Society has the right to demand an accountability from every public agent of his management.
16.​ Any society of which guarantees of rights are not assured or the separation of powers determined has
no constitution.
17.​ Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one may be deprived of it except when public
necessity, legally determined, requires it, and on condition of a just and predetermined compensation.