Appendix H: France's Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

• Author: Arthur Rizer
• Profession: Director of Justice Policy and a senior fellow at the R Street Institute
• Pages: 239-241

239

APPENDIX H

France’s Declaration

of Rights of Man and

of the Citizen (1789)

omas Jeerson and his Declaration of Independence heavily inuenced,

at least, France’s own Declaration of Rights. Some believe that Jeerson,

who was in France serving as Ambassador before its publication, actually

helped to draft the French Declaration.

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

e representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assem-

bly, 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 constitu-

tion and redound to the happiness of all. erefore 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: