Declaration Of Rights Of Man, By Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1247 Words3 Pages

Throughout the history of the world, people have been constantly fighting for their rights. Whether those rights be as simple as being able to hold your own opinion, or as complicated as being held against your will, even today, our society continues to struggle with the complete and total freedom of man. Of course, our freedoms in the present day are much more developed and superior to those in the past, it is still important to understand exactly how we got to where we are today in order to continue to improve our society as a whole. In 1763, Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed The Social Contract in which it discusses the contract between all members of society and the basic rights humans should oblige by. In the work, he discusses the mutual …show more content…

I do believe that the French took the Declaration of Independence and used it for inspiration for their own. Essentially, the Declaration of Independence is a document that states all of the injustices that are being conducted by the King and it lists the reasons why the people of the New World have decided to operate independently from the English. Many of the injustices the King of Britain was being accused of included quartering large bodies of armed troops among the people, for depriving them, for imposing unnecessary laws, and many more. The French Declaration, much like the American Declaration, was a statement to their political leaders telling them that they, as citizens, should be granted these basic rights and that these rights cannot be obstructed. The Declaration of the Rights of Man goes on the describe these basic liberties that should be granted to all, such as the freedom to communicate ideas, the freedom of religion, and more. Specific examples of similarities between the two include the topic of taxes. The Americans chided the British King for imposing taxes on them without their consent. The French state in Article 14 that all citizens have the right to assess and re-proportion the taxes being imposed on them. The French article describes that the people have the right to fix the taxes being placed on them to better suit their population, so no unnecessary taxes are being distributed amongst the people and without the people’s consent, which is exactly what the Americans wanted. Another example would be in the Declaration of Independence, it argues that the King was holding armies around them for his own personal gain. Article 12 of the French Declaration explains that whereas public military forces are necessary for their security, they should not be placed for personal

Open Document