Declaration of the Rights of Man – 1789

Brandon Biagini

Professor R. Janes

HIST 1010

26 March 2016

Declaration of the Rights of Man – 1789

                In the late Eighteenth Century, the French people believed that the rights of man were not respected, acknowledged, and was leading to a corruption in government as well as public turmoil. With these thoughts in mind, the French people decided to create a set of controlled rights that man would have to abide by to achieve stability. The members of the social body formed a National Assembly on August 26th 1789 and constructed 17 acts, or rights upon man and the other citizens of the French people.

                The preservation of the government and the need to achieve stability for the people is expressed throughout the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Within each of these rights is the general freedom as long as one does not directly disrupt the law. This allowed the citizens to overall be equal in rights, but social distinctions may be founded upon the common good. The creation of this act was significant because it ended aristocratic privilege and dissolved social titles. This was a reflection of the goals sought out by the Enlightenment philosophers as well as the middle class with being one of the base charters of human liberties along with containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution to spark. The Enlightenment theory is based heavily upon the idea of popular sovereignty within this doctrine. With the passing of the rights of 1,3, and 4, the individual man has gained more freedom. Each right has its own particular structure of how it should be handled within the law such as right number 1that states “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights…”. There are 17 different rights within, but some correlate with one another with the main points being that citizens are punished properly with the crime committed, freedom within the laws, equal rights among the citizens, freedom of communication of ideas and opinions, and security of property.

        The main points of the declaration are structured to give people stable assurance within the government and have significant meaning of positive change among each new right that has been created for the well-being of the citizens themselves. The significance of proper punishment is that people can not be wrongfully punished for certain crimes that they commit such as to be sentenced to death for a minor crime which use to happen in prior centuries. Having freedom within the laws has significance because it allows citizens to do as they please as long as they are not harming another or breaking a law. Having equal rights as one another is major step in the government because it lessens the social class barrier which is what the bourgeois strived for during the Enlightenment period. Some rights mandated from the Declaration of Man of Rights are still in the declaration of the present time such as freedom of communication of ideas and opinions and security of ones’ property as well as one self. Freedom of communication allows people to express their opinions on certain topics without being punished for disagreeing with the government or someone else.