An in-depth examination France's "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" and its impact.
Written in 2008; 3,696 words; 12 sources; APA; $ 102.95
Paper Summary:
The paper explores whether the principles in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" were for the better or for the worse of the French people and the French Revolution. The paper examines the progressive ideas of the Declaration as well as its essentially bourgeois nature that withheld freedom of assembly and liberty of association from the masses. The paper then assesses the role of the Declaration in the development of modern ideologies, including liberalism, nationalism and socialism, that all came about as a result of the French Revolution. The paper concludes that the historical, political and humanistic significance of the Declaration of Rights is of paramount importance in the law and political thought of the following centuries.
Outline:
Introduction
The Declaration as Embodiment of the Enlightenment Ideas
The Role of the Declaration in the Development of Modern Ideologies
Conclusion
From the Paper:
The Declaration contains no word about actual realization by people of their civil freedoms proclaimed in it, which is typical for all bourgeois constitutional documents. The Declaration withholds freedom of assembly and liberty of association due to the bourgeoisie's fear of excited revolutionary masses. Any professional associations were treated negatively, as they were considered to be vestiges of the guild system and to hinder individual liberty. These thoughts and attitudes were soon clearly expressed in the Le Chapelier law of June 14, 1791 that barred any craft guilds and trade unions.
"The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (hereafter "the Declaration") was issued on August 26, 1789 to declare the future principles of the first French constitution when it should be completed and to be embodied as its preamble. The distinction between a constitution - an established system of government - and a declaration of rights was carefully laid down. In order to prepare a good constitution, it was "necessary to recognize the rights which natural justice grants to every individual, to recall all those principles which must form the basis of every kind of society." The text of the Declaration was prepared by the members of the Constitutional Committee, and signed by the king, though under duress. The content of the Declaration was ideologically influenced by the American Bills of Rights , remonstrations of the parliament of the times of ancient regime crisis, and ideas of the National Assembly. Its text consists of a short preamble, which states that ignorance, disregard or contempt of natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption;
"French Revolution of 1789-1799 was thus a culmination of the Enlightenment philosophy. By the 1780's, the absolute French monarchy was in overall crisis due to political and financial collapse, complemented by establishment of the "third estate" as a new socially active power. The French Revolution comprised a series of events that transformed the political, social, and ideological atmosphere of modern Europe. These events were set in motion when the aristocracy, refusing to be taxed, made it necessary for King Louis XVI to revive the moribund Estates-General in the spring of 1789. Few suspected that this decision would unleash elemental and irresistible forces of discontent. Although they had different ends in view, aristocrats, bourgeois, sans-culottes (the urban poor), and peasants were united in their determination to alter the conditions of their existence. Accompanying this assertion of self-interest was a body of abstract ideas of Enlightenment that gave direction to revolutionary energies. When the National Assembly promulgated the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in August 1789, "it intended to serve notice to the rest of Europe that it had discovered universally valid principles of government."
"Philosophers and enlighteners of the XVIII century undermined the foundations of their contemporary states where political power and enormous share of wealth belonged to nobility and clergy, while masses were impoverished. They proclaimed supremacy of reason instead of faith or tradition, and advocated faith in human nature, confidence that humans will be able to manifest their good qualities when they are given freedom and justice is restored. Ideas of equity of all humans, of duty of all citizens whether a king or a peasant to obey the law established by representatives of the people, free contracts between people exempt from feudal duty and serfdom - all these demands of philosophers united and penetrated into masses of the French people paved the way to the fall of ancient regime in their minds."
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