Synopses & Reviews
“The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789” is the French Revolutions best known utterance. By 1789, to be sure, England looked proudly back to the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and a bill of rights, and even the young American Declaration of Independence and the individual states various declarations and bills of rights preceded the French Declaration. But the French deputies of the National Assembly tried hard, in the words of one of their number, not to receive lessons from others but rather “to give them” to the rest of the world, to proclaim not the rights of Frenchmen, but those “for all times and nations.”
The chapters in this book treat mainly the origins of the Declaration in the political thought and practice of the preceding three centuries that Tocqueville designated the “Old Regime.” Among the topics covered are privileged corporations; the events of the three months preceding the Declaration; blacks, Jews, and women; the Assemblys debates on the Declaration; the influence of sixteenth-century notions of sovereignty and the separation of powers; the rights of the accused in legal practices and political trials from 1716 to 1789; the natural rights to freedom of religion; and the monarchys “feudal” exploitation of the royal domain.
Synopsis
This book explores the origins of the Declaration in the political thought and practice of the preceding three centuries that Tocqueville designated the "Old Regime."
Synopsis
This book examines the intellectual background to the arguments put forward in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.
Synopsis
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 is the French Revolution's best known declaration. Though there were various historical precedents for such a declaration, the French deputies of the National Assembly tried hard, in the words of one of their number, not to receive lessons from others but rather 'to give them' to the rest of the world. The intention was to proclaim, not the rights of Frenchmen, but the rights of man 'for all times and nations'. The chapters in this book examine the origins and character of the Declaration in the context of the political thought and practice of the preceding three centuries, which Tocqueville designated the 'Old Regime'. It thus provides a detailed account of how the ideas embedded in the Declaration emerged as they did and in the form that they did.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Contributors; Declaration on the rights of man and of the citizen; Introduction Dale Van Kley; Part I. Context: 1. Old regime origins of democratic liberty David D. Bien; 2. From the lessons of French history to truths for all times and all people: the historical origins of an anti-historical declaration Dale Van Kley; 3. Betwixt cattle and men: Jews, blacks, and women, and the declaration of the rights of man Shanti Marie Singham; 4. The idea of a declaration of rights Keith Michael Baker; Part II. Text: 5. National sovereignty and the general will: the political program of the declaration of rights J. K. Wright; 6. Safeguarding the rights of the accused: lawyers and political trials in France, 1716-1789 David A. Bell; 7. Religious toleration and freedom of expression Raymond Birn; 8. Property, sovereignty, the declaration of the rights of man, and the tradition of French jurisprudence Thomas E. Kaiser; Glossary; Abbreviations; Notes; Index.