Marquis de La Fayette

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, passed by France’s National Constituent Assembly in August 1789, is a fundamental document of the French Revolution that granted civil rights to some commoners, although it excluded a significant segment of the French population.

Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain “inalienable” natural rights. Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are “life, liberty, and property.” Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind.

The main points in the Declaration of the Rights of Man was that all people had natural rights, such as men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. Citizens had freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and equal justice.

The Declaration of Independence was a call for the 13 Colonies to break away from England and form a new government. The Declaration of the Rights of Man was a call to change the way France’s government was set up and provide equality for all citizens.

It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law. It is included in the beginning of the constitutions of both the Fourth French Republic (1946) and Fifth Republic (1958) and is still current.

The Declaration was a short document, containing only a preamble and 17 brief articles. These articles provided protection for numerous individual rights: liberty, property, freedom of speech and the press, freedom of religion and equal treatment before the law.

Amendments Simplified

• Amendment 1. Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.
• Amendment 2. Right to bear arms.
• Amendment 3. Citizens do not have to house soldiers.
• Amendment 4. No unreasonable search or arrest.
• Amendment 5. No double jeopardy or no witness against yourself.
• Amendment 6.
• Amendment 7.
• Amendment 8.