Political Ideologies

Paper Summary:

The ideologies presented in "The Declaration of the Rights of Man" and "Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture are vastly different, due to one being a staunch defense and declaration of the rights of all men as juxtaposed with the second which concerns the inherent, God-given rights of the sovereign king or queen to rule over their subjects. The paper shows that the "Declaration", approved by the National Assembly of France on August 26, 1789 while the French Revolution was well underway, reflects the radical revolutionary ideals of the ordinary French citizen by conveying the democratic ideals drawn for the most part from Rousseau and other figures of the Enlightenment. In essence, this document declares that the laws of democracy are supreme and that the reigning monarch cannot enforce so-called sovereign laws that severely restrict the natural liberties of the citizenry. The paper shows that, in contrast, the ideologies expressed by Bishop Jacques Bossuet (1627-1704) argue that the government was divinely ordained and that the monarchy was the most natural ruling entity, due to God?s establishment of kings who received their power and wisdom from God, thus making them the absolute authority figure and subject to no human laws except for those ordained by God.

From the Paper:

"Every article contained in the "Declaration of the Rights of Men," being seventeen in total, contradict Bossuet's "theory of Absolutism" which holds that the sovereign power in a state rest in the hands of the king who rules by the "divine" right of God. Article one states that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights" which is very reminiscent of the main principle of the "Declaration of Independence," written some thirteen years before the "Declaration of the Rights of Men." This statement goes completely against the power of the high nobility with their immense estates and land holdings which were conferred upon them by the monarchy. Since all men are "born and remain free and equal," the nobility would find it increasingly difficult to maintain their authority which originated during the early days of the Medieval period when feudalism was the general practice."

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