With this declaration, the French National Assembly addressed
many of the French people's grievances with the monarchy and established the
ideals of the French Revolution. It remains one of the most important documents
in Western political history.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
1789
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,
inalienable, 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:
Article 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in
rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the
preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are
liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially
in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not
proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything
which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man
has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the
enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to
society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may
be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every
citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in
its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All
citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all
dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their
abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and
talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned
except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one
soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary
order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the
law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as
are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except
it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the
commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall
have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all
harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be
severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his
opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not
disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one
of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly,
speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses
of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen
requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for
the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall
be intrusted.
13. A common contribution is essential for the
maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should
be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their
means.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either
personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public
contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix
the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the
taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public
agent an account of his administration.
16. A society in which the observance of the law is not
assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no
one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined,
shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have
been previously and equitably indemnified.
Source: Robinson, James, ed., Readings in European
History. Boston & New York: Ginn & Co., 1904.
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