The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a foundational document of the French Revolution that set out universal civil and natural rights, adopted by France's National Assembly in August 1789. It was ratified by King Louis XVI later that year.
Facts
Key ProvisionDeclares in Article 1 that men are born and remain free and equal in rights, and in Article 3 that the principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, establishing popular sovereignty and natural rights as the constitutional basis of the new French state. 1 Classification
Document TypeDeclaration or Manifesto 1 Original Language Connections
Drafted By
Presented an early draft, composed with Jefferson's input, to the National Assembly on 11 July 1789; the adopted text was substantially reworked by a later committee dominated by Abbe Sieyes.
Source Lafayette's Draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Encyclopedia Virginia)
Influenced
Source Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Elysee)
The 1789 Declaration's language of universal, inalienable rights was a direct model the 1948 drafters of the Universal Declaration drew on.
Source History of the Declaration (UN)
Influenced By
Lafayette drafted the 1789 Declaration with input from Jefferson, then serving as the United States minister to France.
Source Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Elysee)
The National Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration on 26 August 1789, weeks after the Revolution began.
Source French Revolution (Britannica)
Source Montesquieu (Britannica)
Then U.S. minister to France; discussed the project with Lafayette and annotated early drafts.
Source Lafayette's Draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Encyclopedia Virginia)
Shaped
Sources
1. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Elysee)
Elysee (French Presidency)Document type, description
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a foundational document of the French Revolution that set out universal civil and natural rights, adopted by France's National Assembly in August 1789.
- Influenced: Popular Sovereignty
- Influenced By: Declaration of Independence
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- Wikidata Q169759, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)
- Wikidata Q169759 via P407 (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/propfill_varchar.ps1)
View the SourceLafayette's Draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Encyclopedia Virginia)
Encyclopedia Virginia (Virginia Humanities)- Drafted By: Marquis de Lafayette
- Influenced By: Thomas Jefferson
View the Source Conseil constitutionnel: Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 26 August 1789
Conseil constitutionnelIn Group: National Declarations, Petitions and Charters of Rights, Page textQuote, In Group: National Declarations, Petitions and Charters of Rights, Page text
In consequence whereof, the National Assembly recognises and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
History of the Declaration (UN)
United NationsInfluenced: Universal Declaration of Human RightsView the Source French Revolution (Britannica)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
The 1789 Declaration defined citizenship in terms ("Man," "the Citizen") that the revolutionary constitutions then read as excluding women from political rights entirely. In September 1791, Olympe de Gouges published a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, restating the 1789 text article by article with women written in, to expose what she held was the Revolution's betrayal of its own universal principles. She was also an outspoken abolitionist at a time the Declaration's universal language did not extend to the enslaved population of France's colonies, which chattel slavery there outlived the Declaration by several years. She was guillotined in 1793 on political charges unrelated to this pamphlet.
A dissenting reading, from Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791)Olympe de Gouges (Britannica), Encyclopaedia Britannica
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