Declaration of the Rights of Man: Revolutionary patriotism borrows familiar iconography of the
Ten Commandments.
The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen () is a fundamental document of the
French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the
estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of
natural rights, the rights of Man are
universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to
human nature itself. Although it establishes fundamental rights for French citizens and
all men without exception, it addresses neither the status of women nor slavery; despite that, it is a precursor document to
international human rights instruments.
History
The last article of Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was adopted 26 or 27 August, 1789 by the
National Constituent Assembly (
Assemblée nationale constituante), during the period of the French Revolution, as the first step toward writing a constitution for
France. It was prepared and proposed by
the marquis de Lafayette. A second and lengthier declaration, known as the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793 was later adopted.
Philosophic and theoretical context
The concepts in the declaration come from the philosophical and political principles of the
Age of Enlightenment, such as
individualism, the
social contract as theorized by the English philosopher
John Locke and developed 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 political philosophy of the Enlightenment, and by Enlightenment principles of human rights contained in the
U.S. Declaration of Independence (
4 July 1776), of which the delegates were fully aware.
Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was at the time in France as a U.S. diplomat, and was in correspondence with members of the French National Constituent Assembly.
The declaration is in the spirit of what has come to be called
secular natural law, which is not derived from
religious doctrine,
beliefs or
authority.
The declaration defines a single set of individual and collective rights for all men. Influenced by the doctrine of
natural rights, these rights are held to be
universal and valid in all times and places. For example, "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good." The declaration, like the
United States Bill of Rights, is based on a theory of
human nature that holds that all men are created equal. They have certain
natural rights to
property, to
liberty and to
life. According to this theory the role of
government is to recognise and secure these rights. Furthermore government should be carried on by elected representatives.
At the time of writing the rights contained in the declaration were only awarded to white men. Furthermore, like the
United States Bill of Rights, the declaration was a statement of vision rather than reality. The declaration was not deeply rooted in either the practice of the West or even France at the time. The declaration emerged in the late 18th Century out of war and revolution. It encountered opposition as
democracy and
individual rights were frequently regarded as synonymous with
anarchy and
subversion. The declaration embodies ideals and aspirations towards which France pledged to struggle in the future.
Substance
The Declaration opens by affirming "the natural and impresciptible rights of man" to "liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression". It called for the destruction of aristocratic privileges by proclaiming an end to exemptions from taxation, freedom and equal rights for all men, and access to public office based on talent. The monarchy was restricted, and all citizens were to have the right to take part in the legislative process.
Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed.
The Declaration also asserted the principles of
popular sovereignty, in contrast to the
divine right of kings that characterized the French
monarchy, and social equality among citizens, "All the citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents," eliminating the special rights of the nobility and clergy.
Omissions
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.
Women's rights
The Declaration recognized most rights as belonging only to
men. This was despite the fact that after
The March on Versailles on
5 October 1789, women presented the
Women's Petition to the National Assembly in which they proposed a decree giving women equality. In 1790
Nicolas de Condorcet and Etta Palm d’Aelders unsuccessfully called on the National Assembly to extend civil and political rights to women. Condorcet declared that “and he who votes against the right of another, whatever the religion, color, or sex of that other, has henceforth adjured his own”. The French Revolution did not lead to a recognition of
women’s rights and this prompted de Gouges to publish the
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in September 1791.
The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen is modelled on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and is ironic in formulation and exposes the failure of the
French Revolution, which had been devoted to
equality. It states that:
“This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society”.
The
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen follows the seventeen articles of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen point for point and has been described by Camille Naish as “almost a parody... of the original document”. The first article of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaims that:
“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility.”
The first article of
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen replied:
“Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may only be based on common utility”.
De Gouges also draws attention to the fact that under French law women were fully punishable, yet denied equal rights, declaring “Women have the right to mount the scaffold, they must also have the right to mount the speaker’s rostrum”.
Women were eventually given these rights with the adoption of the 1946 Constitution of the
French Fourth Republic.
Slavery
The declaration did not revoke the institution of slavery, as lobbied for by Jacques-Pierre Brissot's
Les Amis des Noirs and defended by the group of colonial planters called the Club Massiac because they met at the Hôtel Massiac. Despite the lack of explicit mention of slavery in the Declaration, slave uprisings in
Saint-Domingue that would later be known as the beginning of the
Haitian Revolution took inspiration from its words, as discussed in
C.L.R. James' history of the Haitian Revolution,
The Black Jacobins.
Deplorable conditions for the thousands of slaves in Saint-Domingue, the most profitable slave colony in the world, also led to the uprisings which would be known as the first successful slave revolt in the New World. Slavery in the French colonies was abolished in 1794, but reinstated by Napoleon in 1802. The colony of Saint-Domingue declared its independence in 1804.
For more information about the Haitian Revolution and its connection to the French Revolution, see Laurent Dubois's
Avengers of the New World.
Constitution of the French Fifth Republic
According to the
preamble of the
Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (adopted on
4 October 1958, and the current constitution), the principles set forth in the Declaration have constitutional value. Many laws and regulations have been canceled because they did not comply with those principles as interpreted by the
Conseil Constitutionnel ("Constitutional Council of France") or the
Conseil d'État ("Council of State").
- 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.
Legacy
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 sentenced to be imprisoned for ten years for doing so. In 2003, the document was listed on UNESCO's
Memory of the World Register.
Other early declarations of rights
See also
