Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen: Revolutionary patriotism borrows familiar iconography of the Ten Commandments.
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Template:Lang-fr) is one of the fundamental documents of the French Revolution, defining a set of individual rights and collective rights of all of the estates as one. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, these rights are universal: they are supposed to be valid in all times and places, pertaining to human nature itself. The last article of the Declaration was adopted on 26 August 1789[1], by the National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante), as the first step toward writing a constitution. While it set forth fundamental rights, not only for French citizens but for all men without exception, it did not make any statement about the status of women, nor did it explicitly address slavery. It is, however, considered to be a precursor to international human rights instruments:

"First Article – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common utility."

The principles set forth in the declaration are of constitutional value in present-day French law and may be used to oppose legislation or other government activities.

Contents

[edit] Adoption of the declaration

Among the drafters were Marquis de Lafayette (with assistance by Ben Franklin); it was intended as part of a transition from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Many of the principles laid down in the declaration directly oppose the institutions and usages of the ancien régime of pre-revolutionary France. France soon became a republic, but this document remained fundamental.

The concepts set forth in the declaration come from the philosophical and political principles of the Age of Enlightenment, such as individualism, the social contract as theorised by the English John Locke and adopted to the French by Jean Jacques Rousseau, and the separation of powers espoused by the Baron de Montesquieu. As can be seen in the texts, the French declaration is heavily influenced by the declarations of human rights contained in the U.S. Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776) of which the delegates were fully aware.[2] Moreover, the declaration was checked by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, then the U.S. ambassador in Paris, before its acceptance. Lafayette and some other main characters of the revolution had already fought in the American Revolution.

[edit] Substance of the declaration

This statement of principles contained the kernel of a much more radical re-ordering of society than had yet taken place. A mere six weeks after the storming of the Bastille and barely three weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration put forward a doctrine of popular sovereignty and equal opportunity:


The Declaration puts forward several provisions similar to those in the United States Constitution (1787) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789, and adopted at approximately the same time as the Declaration). Like the U.S. Constitution, it discusses the need to provide for the common defense and states some broad principles of taxation, especially equality before taxation (a striking difference from the pre-revolutionary era, when the Church and the nobility were exempted from most taxes). It also specifies a public right to an accounting from public agents as to how they have discharged the public trust.


It provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and a slightly weaker guarantee of freedom of religion — "provided that [...the] manifestation [...of their religious opinions] does not trouble the public order established by the law". It asserts the rights of property, while reserving a public right of eminent domain:


The Declaration is largely individualistic, not addressing freedom of assembly or liberty of association. These principles did acquire a constitutional value, from the provisions of the Constitution of the French Fourth Republic, under which, unlike at the time of the Revolution, they were understood to extend to women and various ethnic groups.

[edit] Those left out of the Declaration

The Declaration, as originally understood, recognized most rights as only belonging to males; many rights were not shared with women. The declaration did not revoke the institution of slavery.

Sometime after The March on Versailles on 5 October 1789, the women of France presented the Women's Petition to the National Assembly in which they proposed a decree giving women equality. The Declaration's failure to include women was also objected to by Olympe de Gouges in her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. Women were finally given these rights with the adoption of the 1946 Constitution of the French Fourth Republic.

Similarly, despite the lack of explicit mention of slavery in the Declaration, the slave revolt on Saint-Domingue that became the Haitian Revolution took inspiration from its words, as discussed in C.L.R. James' history of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.

[edit] Effect today

According to the preamble of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (adopted on 4 October 1958, and the current constitution as of 2007), the principles set forth in the Declaration have constitutional value. Many laws and regulations have been cancelled because they did not comply with those principles as interpreted by the Constitutional Council of France or the Conseil d'État ("Council of State").

Many of the principles in the 1789 declaration have far-reaching implications nowadays:

  • Taxation legislation or practices that seem to make some unwarranted difference between citizens are struck down as anticonstitutional.
  • Suggestions of positive discrimination on ethnic grounds are rejected because they infringe on the principle of equality, since they would establish categories of people that would, by birth, enjoy greater rights.

The declaration has also influenced and inspired rights-based liberal democracy throughout the world. It was translated as soon as 1793-94 by Colombian Antonio Nariño, who published it despite the Inquisition and was imprisoned ten years for it. In 2003, the document was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

[edit] See also

[edit] Compare to other bills of rights

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Some sources say 27 August because the debate was not officially closed.
  2. ^ The American Declaration was in part based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights developed by George Mason in June 1776, themselves based on the 1689 English Bill of Rights, published a full century before the French version. Few French were vividly aware of these precedents.

[edit] External links

an:Declarazión d'os Dreitos de l'Ombre e d'o Ziudadán ast:Declaración de los Derechos del Home y del Ciudadanu bs:Deklaracija o ljudskim pravima ca:Declaració dels Drets de l'Home i del Ciutadà cs:Deklarace práv člověka a občana da:Erklæringen om menneskets og borgerens rettigheder de:Erklärung der Menschen- und Bürgerrechte es:Declaración de los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano eo:Deklaracio pri Homaj kaj Civitanaj Rajtoj fr:Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789 hr:Deklaracija o pravima čovjeka i građanina id:Deklarasi Hak Asasi Manusia it:Dichiarazione dei diritti dell'uomo e del cittadino he:הצהרת זכויות האדם והאזרח ka:ადამიანისა და მოქალაქის უფლებათა დეკლარაცია lb:Deklaratioun vun de Mënschen- a Biergerrechter vu 1789 lt:Žmogaus ir piliečio teisių deklaracija hu:Emberi és polgári jogok nyilatkozata nl:Verklaring van de Rechten van de Mens en de Burger ja:人間と市民の権利の宣言 no:Erklæringen om menneskets og borgerens rettigheter pl:Deklaracja Praw Człowieka i Obywatela pt:Declaração dos Direitos do Homem e do Cidadão ru:Декларация прав человека и гражданина simple:Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen sr:Декларација о правима човека и грађанина sh:Deklaracija o pravima čovjeka sv:Deklarationen om människans och medborgarens rättigheter tr:İnsan ve Yurttaş Hakları Bildirisi uk:Декларація прав людини і громадянина zh:法国人权和公民权宣言

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