The Birth of the French Republic Declaration By: National Assembly of France Date: August 26, 1789 Source: National Assembly of France About the Author: The National Assembly of France formed on June 17, 1789 when the Estates General decided to change its name as revolutionary sentiments spread. The Assembly is responsible for stating France's revolutionary principles in the Declaration of Man and Citizen as well as writing the first French constitution in 1791.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is the founding document of the French republic. A product of the 1789 French Revolution, it reflected a radically new view of human rights. In June 1789, King Louis XVI responded to widespread anger in France by proposing a charter of rights to the Estates General. Although he granted freedom of the press along with some measure of equality to the citizens, he preserved many of the feudal rights of his nobles. The king offered far too little, far too late. Within days, he was forced to recognize the authority of the National Assembly. For the majority of representatives in the Assembly, the Revolution meant a guarantee of citizens's rights, freedoms, and equality before the law. On August 4, 1789, the Assembly decreed the abolition of the feudal regime by freeing the few remaining serfs and eliminating all special privileges given to the nobility in matters of taxation. It also mandated equality of opportunity in access to official posts. Enlightenment principles were beginning to become law. On August 26, 1789, the Assembly further emphasized its support of the Enlightenment ideals by passing the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The French were inspired to issue a document by a draft of a bill of rights that Thomas Jefferson offered to the Assembly. Jefferson, the principle author of the Declaration of Independence, served as U.S. ambassador to France in 1789. The French Declaration closely resembles the American one. Both granted freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and power to the people rather than a sovereign. The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen reflects French thought by further mandating equality of taxation and equality before the law.
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, 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 constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore 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:
The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen does much more than simply state the obligations of French citizens. It struck at the divine right of kings, severing the nation from a past based on religion. It is a document of the Age of Reason. The Declaration ended the thousand-year-old mystique of monarchy by demoting the king to the mere executive of the people's will. He was no longer God's choice to rule and a representative of the divine. Instead, the king was a leader who had failed his people. Accordingly, the people's revolt was justified since resistance to oppression is a natural right of men.
The most enduring legacy of the Declaration lies in its assertion that citizens are equal before the law. In 1789, this assertion only applied to men. Revolutionary women such as Olympe de Gouges, author of the 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, unsuccessfully sought to extend rights to women. Only in the twentieth century would French men and women gain equal rights and protections. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings with respect to gender, the Declaration made it possible for all French citizens to eventually receive equal status. It dismantled the hereditary distinctions and privileges that had formed the center of monarchical society. The nature of sovereignty, the class structure of society, and the face of justice had been transformed forever in France.
Barny, Roger. Le Triomphe du Droit Naturel: La Constitution de la Doctrine Revolutionnaire des Droits De L'Homme. Paris: Diffusion, 1997.
Dunn, Susan. Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light. New York: Faber and Faber, 1999.
Van Kley, Dale, ed. The French Idea of Freedom: The Old Regime and the Declaration of Rights of 1789. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.