Contents:

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.......................................................................................1

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

Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the

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

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 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

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

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

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

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their

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

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

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

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

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

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 duress, but never intended to support it. Indeed, the Revolution in France soon