DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN

Note: This version has been adapted for reading level by James Couture. Some nuances may have been obliterated by necessity. March 31, 2001

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 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 troubles and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unavoidable, and sacred rights of man. This declaration, which all the members of the nation will know, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties. The purpose of this declarations is so that the acts of the legislative branch and of the executive branch can be compared with the stated goals of the French government. The executive and legislative branches will consequently be more respected. Lastly, this declaration will make it possible for the demands of the citizens, based from now on upon simple and incontestable principles, to pressure the government to enforce the constitution for the good of the people. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the authority of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

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 parties is the preservation of the natural and undeniable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the people of the nation. No body or individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the people of the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else. As a result, 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. No one may be forced to do anything not mentioned by laws.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. 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 listed by law. Any one asking for, 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 is a crime.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary. No one shall suffer punishment unless it is legally required by a law passed and published 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 necessary, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be bothered 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 entrusted.

13. A common financial contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. Taxes should be fairly 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 government employee an account of his work.

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 undeniable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived of it except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it. Even then property can only be taken on the condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably reimbursed.

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* The above document was written by the Marquis de Lafayette, with help from his friend and neighbor, American envoy to France, Thomas Jefferson. Lafayette, you may recall, had come to the Colonies at age 19, been commissioned a Major General, and was instrumental in the defeat of the British during the American Revolutionary War. He considered one special man his 'father': George Washington.

* French King Louis XVI signed this document, under threats, but never intended to support it. Indeed, the Revolution in France soon followed, leading to the tyrannical rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.