The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, written in August 1789, is a central document of the French Revolution and fundamental to the history of both civil and human rights. It was strongly influenced by America’s Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson; The Marquis de Lafayette, a veteran of the American Revolution and friend of Jefferson, wrote the French Declaration. He persuaded the National Assembly to adopt the document in 1789, shortly after the fall of Bastille prison, a symbol of the ancien régime, the old regime, and the feudal system in France. The Declaration relies heavily on the Enlightenment philosophy of natural rights, or rights that are universal and inalienable for all individuals, and embodies the French Revolution ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. At the time of its creation, the Declaration united people of various social classes [the first, second, and third estate] as they began an often-violent revolution; after, its words echoed in future French constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1948] created by the United Nations. Belief in “human rights,” particularly the right of a people to break the social contract between themselves and their government when that government is oppressive, permeates our world today.
journal article
The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and the American Constitutional DevelopmentThe American Journal of Comparative Law
Vol. 38, Supplement. U. S. Law in an Era of Democratization [1990]
, pp. 445-462 [18 pages]
Published By: Oxford University Press
//doi.org/10.2307/840552
//www.jstor.org/stable/840552
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The American Journal of Comparative Law is the world's leading journal dedicated to the comparative study of law, as well as the critical analysis of foreign law and legal systems, and private international law. A peer-reviewed quarterly founded in 1952, the board of journal editors includes scholars with interests in the world's major legal systems and traditions. Authors from many disciplinary traditions including anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology contribute to the journal.
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American military commander General George Washington leading the Continental Army in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War, 1777.
When American colonists won independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, the French, who participated in the war themselves, were both close allies and key participants.
Several years after the revolt in America, French reformers faced political, social and economic hardships that mirrored the colonists’ struggles. While the French Revolution was a complex conflict with numerous triggers and causes, the American Revolution set the stage for an effective uprising that the French had observed firsthand.
Although the French and American people had several distinct and differing motives for revolting against their ruling governments, some similar causes led to both revolutions, including the following:
Economic struggles: Both the Americans and French dealt with a taxation system they found discriminating and unfair. Additionally, France’s involvement in the American Revolution, along with extravagant spending practices by King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, left the country on the verge of bankruptcy.
Monarchy: Although the American colonists had lived in a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, they revolted against the royal powers of King George III just like the French rose up against Louis XVI.
Unequal rights: Like the American colonists, the French felt that specific rights were only granted to certain segments of society, namely the elite and aristocrats.
Enlightenment Philosophy Was a Major Influence
Many experts believe that the same ideologies that sparked the American Revolution had long percolated through French culture.
During the war in North American colonies, some allied Frenchmen fought side by side with soldiers of the Continental Army, which allowed for the exchanging of values, ideas and philosophies.
One key ideological movement, known as the Enlightenment, was central to the American uprising. Enlightenment stressed the idea of natural rights and equality for all citizens.
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The ideas of the Enlightenment flowed from Europe to the North American continent and sparked a revolution that made enlightened thought all the more popular back across the Atlantic.
The Declaration of Independence Became a Template for the French
The French who had direct contact with the Americans were able to successfully implement Enlightenment ideas into a new political system.
The National Assembly in France even used the American Declaration of Independence as a model when drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789.
Much like the American document, the French declaration included Enlightenment
principles, such as equal rights and popular sovereignty.
Americans' Victory Encouraged the French
The Americans’ victory over the British may have been one of the greatest catalysts for the French Revolution.
The French people saw that a revolt could be successful—even against a major military power–and that lasting change was possible. Many experts argue that this gave them the motivation to rebel. The newly-formed government of the United States also became a model for French reformers.
Ideas that were once just abstract thoughts—such as popular sovereignty, natural rights, constitutional checks and balances and separation of powers—were now part of an actual political system that worked.
What Was the Extent of America’s Influence?
Though most historians agree that the American Revolution influenced the French Revolution, which lasted from 1789-1799, some scholars debate the significance and extent of its impact.
France, a country on the verge of financial collapse with an outdated feudal system and a wildly unpopular monarchy, was a powder keg waiting to explode, with or without the American war to serve as an example.
Other political, social and religious factors also activated the French people’s appetite for change.
Though there were clear differences between the motives for each revolt and how the two wars were fought, most experts believe that the war in America at least partly paved the way for France’s own uprising. The Americans provided a working model of revolutionary success that cannot have been lost on the French.