Wednesday Regency: French Revolution-Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen~

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789 and written by The Marquis de Lafayette, with help from his friend and neighbor, American envoy to France, Thomas Jefferson.

About 6 weeks after the Storming of the Bastille, The National Assembly of France passed their own Declaration.

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.