Vocally supported by other French veterans of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Lafayette first proposed the need for an affirmation of citizens' natural rights to the Assembly on 11 July, a mere three days before the Bastille fell. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Declaration's original author was Lafayette, a champion of American liberties who now sought to deliver those freedoms to his own countrymen. The French Declaration, birthed from Enlightenment ideals, took inspiration from the recent American Revolution, which many starry-eyed Assembly deputies saw as the premier success story of freedom triumphing over tyranny. By then, it had become practically sacred. However, when the constitution was finalized two years later, no one dared offer revisions to the Declaration. The document, including a preamble text and seventeen articles, was meant to be merely provisional, to be amended as needed as the Assembly embarked on the laborious task of negotiating a new constitution. It was amidst this optimistic atmosphere that the Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man on 26 August 1789. The Declaration was meant to be merely provisional, to be amended as the Assembly embarked on negotiating a new constitution.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |