A primary source analysis asks you to approach historical evidence critically in the form of a close reading of your chosen

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted by a body of over one-

thousand men who had been elected to the Estates-General and remained members after its title

was changed to the National Assembly. Their specific legal purpose was to impose requirements

and prohibitions upon themselves for their later task of drawing up France’s first written

constitution.

______________________________________________________________________________

Approved by the National Assembly of France, 26 August, 1789

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 redound to the

happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and

under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

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

upon the general good.

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 any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

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 their virtues and talents.

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 submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

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 the commission of the offense.

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 repressed by law.

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

their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

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 abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

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 shall be entrusted.

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 means.

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 no constitution at all.

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 have been previously and equitably indemnified.

Olympe de Gouges, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman (September 1791)

Marie Gouze (1748–93) was a self–educated butcher’s daughter from the south of France who,

under the name Olympe de Gouges, wrote pamphlets and plays on a variety of issues, including

slavery, which she attacked as being founded on greed and blind prejudice. In this pamphlet she

provides a declaration of the rights of women to parallel the one for men, thus criticizing the

deputies for having forgotten women. She addressed the pamphlet to the Queen, Marie

Antoinette, though she also warned the Queen that she must work for the Revolution or risk

destroying the monarchy altogether. In her postscript she denounced the customary treatment of

women as objects easily abandoned. She appended to the declaration a sample form for a

marriage contract that called for communal sharing of property. De Gouges went to the

guillotine in 1793, condemned as a counterrevolutionary and denounced as an "unnatural"

woman.

______________________________________________________________________________

To be decreed by the National Assembly in its last sessions or by the next legislature.

Preamble.

Mothers, daughters, sisters, female representatives of the nation ask to be constituted as a

national assembly. Considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt for the rights of woman are

the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, they have resolved to set

forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of woman: so that by

being constantly present to all the members of the social body this declaration may always

remind them of their rights and duties; so that by being liable at every moment to comparison

with the aim of any and all political institutions the acts of women's and men's powers may be

the more fully respected; and so that by being founded henceforward on simple and incontestable

principles the demands of the citizenesses may always tend toward maintaining the constitution,

good morals, and the general welfare.

In consequence, the sex that is superior in beauty as in courage, needed in maternal sufferings,

recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the

following rights of woman and the citizeness.

1. Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may be based only

on common utility.

2. The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible

rights of woman and man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to

oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation, which is but the reuniting of

woman and man. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate

expressly from the nation.

4. Liberty and justice consist in restoring all that belongs to another; hence the exercise of the

natural rights of woman has no other limits than those that the perpetual tyranny of man opposes

to them; these limits must be reformed according to the laws of nature and reason.

5. The laws of nature and reason prohibit all actions which are injurious to society. No hindrance

should be put in the way of anything not prohibited by these wise and divine laws, nor may

anyone be forced to do what they do not require.

6. The law should be the expression of the general will. All citizenesses and citizens should take

part, in person or by their representatives, in its formation. It must be the same for everyone. All

citizenesses and citizens, being equal in its eyes, should be equally admissible to all public

dignities, offices and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than

that of their virtues and talents.

7. No woman is exempted; she is indicted, arrested, and detained in the cases determined by the

law. Women like men obey this rigorous law.

8. Only strictly and obviously necessary punishments should be established by the law, and no

one may be punished except by virtue of a law established and promulgated before the time of

the offense, and legally applied to women.

9. Any woman being declared guilty, all rigor is exercised by the law.

10. No one should be disturbed for his fundamental opinions; woman has the right to mount the

scaffold, so she should have the right equally to mount the rostrum, provided that these

manifestations do not trouble public order as established by law.

11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of

woman, since this liberty assures the recognition of children by their fathers. Every citizeness

may therefore say freely, I am the mother of your child; a barbarous prejudice [against unmarried

women having children] should not force her to hide the truth, so long as responsibility is

accepted for any abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law [women are not allowed to

lie about the paternity of their children].

12. The safeguard of the rights of woman and the citizeness requires public powers. These

powers are instituted for the advantage of all and not for the private benefit of those to whom

they are entrusted.

13. For maintenance of public authority and for expenses of administration, taxation of women

and men is equal; she takes part in all forced labor service, in all painful tasks; she must therefore

have the same proportion in the distribution of places, employments, offices, dignities, and in

industry.

14. The citizenesses and citizens have the right, by themselves or through their representatives,

to have demonstrated to them the necessity of public taxes. The citizenesses can only agree to

them upon admission of an equal division, not only in wealth, but also in the public

administration, and to determine the means of apportionment, assessment, and collection, and the

duration of the taxes.

15. The mass of women, joining with men in paying taxes, have the right to hold accountable

every public agent of the administration.

16. Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured or the separation of powers not

settled has no constitution. The constitution is null and void if the majority of individuals

composing the nation has not cooperated in its drafting.

17. Property belongs to both sexes whether united or separated; it is for each of them an

inviolable and sacred right, and no one may be deprived of it as a true patrimony of nature,

except when public necessity, certified by law, obviously requires it, and then on condition of a

just compensation in advance.

Postscript

Women, wake up; the tocsin of reason sounds throughout the universe; recognize your rights.

The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition, and

lies. The torch of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has

multiplied his force and needs yours to break his chains. Having become free, he has become

unjust toward his companion. Oh women! Women, when will you cease to be blind? What

advantages have you gathered in the Revolution? A scorn more marked, a disdain more

conspicuous. During the centuries of corruption you only reigned over the weakness of men.

Your empire is destroyed; what is left to you then? Firm belief in the injustices of men. The

reclaiming of your patrimony founded on the wise decrees of nature; why should you fear such a

beautiful enterprise? . . . Whatever the barriers set up against you, it is in your power to

overcome them; you only have to want it. Let us pass now to the appalling account of what you

have been in society; and since national education is an issue at this moment, let us see if our

wise legislators will think sanely about the education of women.

Women have done more harm than good. Constraint and dissimulation have been their lot. What

force has taken from them, ruse returned to them; they have had recourse to all the resources of

their charms, and the most irreproachable man has not resisted them. Poison, the sword, women

controlled everything; they ordered up crimes as much as virtues. For centuries, the French

government, especially, depended on the nocturnal administration of women; officials kept no

secrets from their indiscretion; ambassadorial posts, military commands, the ministry, the

presidency [of a court], the papacy, the college of cardinals, in short everything that characterizes

the folly of men, profane and sacred, has been submitted to the cupidity and ambition of this sex

formerly considered despicable and respected, and since the revolution, respectable and despised.

. . .

Under the former regime, everyone was vicious, everyone guilty. . . . A woman only had to be

beautiful and amiable; when she possessed these two advantages, she saw a hundred fortunes at

her feet. . . . The most indecent woman could make herself respectable with gold; the commerce

in women [prostitution] was a kind of industry amongst the highest classes, which henceforth

will enjoy no more credit. If it still did, the Revolution would be lost, and in the new situation we

would still be corrupted. Can reason hide the fact that every other road to fortune is closed to a

woman bought by a man, bought like a slave from the coasts of Africa? The difference between

them is great; this is known. The slave [that is, the woman] commands her master, but if the

master gives her her freedom without compensation and at an age when the slave has lost all her

charms, what does this unfortunate woman become? The plaything of disdain; even the doors of

charity are closed to her; she is poor and old, they say; why did she not know how to make her

fortune?

Other examples even more touching can be provided to reason. A young woman without

experience, seduced by the man she loves, abandons her parents to follow him; the ingrate leaves

her after a few years and the older she will have grown with him, the more his inconstancy will

be inhuman. If she has children, he will still abandon her. If he is rich, he will believe himself

excused from sharing his fortune with his noble victims. If some engagement ties him to his

duties, he will violate it while counting on support from the law. If he is married, every other

obligation loses its force. What laws then remain to be passed that would eradicate vice down to

its roots? That of equally dividing [family] fortunes between men and women and of public

administration of their goods. It is easy to imagine that a woman born of a rich family would

gain much from the equal division of property [between children]. But what about the woman

born in a poor family with merit and virtues; what is her lot? Poverty and opprobrium. If she

does not excel in music or painting, she cannot be admitted to any public function, even if she is

fully qualified. . . .

Marriage is the tomb of confidence and love. A married woman can give bastards to her husband

with impunity, and even the family fortune which does not belong to them. An unmarried

woman has only a feeble right: ancient and inhuman laws refuse her the right to the name and

goods of her children's father; no new laws have been made in this matter. If giving my sex an

honorable and just consistency is considered to be at this time paradoxical on my part and an

attempt at the impossible, I leave to future men the glory of dealing with this matter; but while

waiting, we can prepare the way with national education, with the restoration of morals and with

conjugal agreements.

Form for a Social Contract between Man and Woman

We, ________ and ________, moved by our own will, unite for the length of our lives and for

the duration of our mutual inclinations under the following conditions: We intend and wish to

make our wealth communal property, while reserving the right to divide it in favor of our

children and of those for whom we might have a special inclination, mutually recognizing that

our goods belong directly to our children, from whatever bed they come [legitimate or not], and

that all of them without distinction have the right to bear the name of the fathers and mothers

who have acknowledged them, and we impose on ourselves the obligation of subscribing to the

law that punishes any rejection of one's own blood [refusing to acknowledge an illegitimate

child]. We likewise obligate ourselves, in the case of a separation, to divide our fortune equally

and to set aside the portion the law designates for our children. In the case of a perfect union, the

one who dies first will give up half his property in favor of the children; and if there are no

children, the survivor will inherit by right, unless the dying person has disposed of his half of the

common property in favor of someone he judges appropriate. [She then goes on to defend her

contract against the inevitable objections of "hypocrites, prudes, the clergy, and all the hellish

gang."]

Source:

The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, translated, edited, and

with an introduction by Lynn Hunt (Boston/New York Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996), 124–129.

Haiti 1801

Constitution of 1801

Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor.

On February 4, 1801, the seventh anniversary of the abolition of slavery by the National Assembly, Toussaint Louverture convoked a Constitutional Assembly to write a constitution for Saint-Domingue, though it was still a colony of France. In March representatives from all of Saint-Domingue’s departments were elected to the Assembly, which completed the constitution in May. Toussaint signed it in July 1801.

The Assembly was made up of three mulattoes and seven whites, and the constitution they produced was a pure distillation of Toussaint’s thought. Following up on Toussaint’s opposition to voodoo, Catholicism was made the official religion; the freed slaves were tied to their workplaces; and Toussaint was named ruler for life. Curiously, this last element had been recommended to Toussaint by the most conservative of American revolutionary figures, Alexander Hamilton.

First Title On the territory

Art 1 — The entire extent of Saint-Domingue, and Samana, Tortuga, Gonave, the Cayemites, Ile-a-Vache, the Saone and other adjacent islands, form the territory of one colony, that is part of the French Empire, but is subject to particular laws.

Art 2 — The territory of this colony is divided into departments, arrondisements, and parishes

Title II On its inhabitants

Art 3 — There can be no slaves on this territory; servitude has been forever abolished. All men are born, live and die there free and French.

Art 4 — All men can work at all forms of employment, whatever their color.

Art 5 — No other distinctions exist than those of virtues and talents, nor any other superiority than that granted by the law in the exercise of a public charge. The law is the same for all, whether it punishes or protects.

Title III On religion

Art 6 — The Catholic religion, Apostolic and Roman, is the only one publicly professed.

Art 7 — Every parish provides for the maintenance of the religious cult and its ministers. Manufactured goods are especially destined for this expense and for presbyteries and the lodging of ministers.

Art 8 — The governor of the colony assigns to each minister of the religion the scope of his spiritual administration, and these ministers can never, under any pretext, form a body within the colony

Title IV On morals

Art 9 — Since marriage, by its civil and religious institution, tends to the purity of morals, those spouses who practice the virtues demanded by their state, will always be distinguished and specially protected by the government

Art 10 — Divorce will not take place in the colony

Art 11 — The state of the rights of children born through marriage will be fixed by laws that will tend to spread and maintain social virtues, and to encourage and solidify family ties.

Title V On men in society

Art 12 — The Constitution guarantees individual freedom and safety. No one can be arrested except by virtue of a formally expressed order, issued by a functionary who the law gives the right to arrest and detain in a publicly designated place.

Art 13 — Property is sacred and inviolable. Every person, either by himself or his representatives, has the free disposal and administration of that which is recognized as belonging to him. Whoever infringes upon this right renders himself criminal towards society and responsible as concerns the person troubled in his property.

Title VI On cultivation and commerce

Art 14 — The colony, being essentially agricultural, cannot allow the least interruption in its labor and cultivation.

Art 15 — Every habitation is a manufactory that demands a gathering together of cultivators and workers; it’s the tranquil asylum of an active and constant family, of which the owner of the land or his representative is necessarily the father.

Art 16 — Every cultivator and worker is a member of the family and a shareholder in its revenues.

Any change in domicile on the part of cultivators brings with it the ruin of farming.

In order to do away with a vice so disastrous for the colony and contrary to public order, the governor makes all the police regulations that the circumstances render necessary in conformity with the bases of the police regulation of 20 Vendémiaire of the year 9, and the proclamation of General- in-Chief Toussaint Louverture of the following 19 Pluviose.

Art 17 — The introduction of the cultivators indispensable to the re- establishment and the growth of planting will take place in Saint-Domingue. The Constitution charges the governor to take the appropriate measures to encourage and favor this increase in arms, stipulate and balance the diverse interests, and assure and guarantee the carrying out of the respective engagements resulting from this introduction.

Art 18 — The commerce of the colony consists only in the exchange of the goods and products of its territory; consequently the introduction of those of the same nature as its own is and remains prohibited.

Title VII On legislation and legislative authority

Art 19 — The regime of the colony is determined by the laws proposed by the governor and rendered by an assembly of inhabitants who gather at fixed periods in the center of the colony under the title of Central Assembly of Saint-Domingue.

Art 20 — No law relative to the internal administration of the colony can be promulgated unless it bears the following formula: the Central Assembly of Saint-Domingue, on the proposition of the Governor, renders the following law.

Art 21 — Laws will only be obligatory for citizens from the day of their promulgation in the departmental capitals. The promulgation of a law occurs in the following fashion: in the name of the French colony of Saint-Domingue, the governor orders that the above law be sealed, promulgated, and executed in the whole colony.

Art 22 — The Central Assembly of Saint-Domingue is composed of two deputies per department who, in order to be eligible, must be at least 30 years old and have resided in the colony five years.

Art 23 — The Assembly is renewed every two years by half; no one can be a member six consecutive years. The election takes place thusly: the municipal administrations every two years name on 10 Ventose (March 1), each one with one deputy, who will meet ten days later in the capitals of their respective departments where they form as many departmental electoral assemblies, who will each name a deputy to the Central Assembly. The next election will take place the 10 Ventose of the eleventh year of the French republic (March 1, 1803). In case of death, resignation or otherwise of one or several members of the Assembly, the Governor will see to their replacement. He also designates the members of the current Central Assembly who, at the period of the first renewal, shall remain members of the Assembly for two more years.

Art 24 — The Central Assembly votes on the adoption or rejection of laws proposed to it by the Governor. It expresses its wishes on the regulations made and on the application of laws already made, on the abuses to be corrected, on the improvements to be undertaken, on all parts of service of the colony.

Art 25 — Its session begins every year the first of Germinal (March 22) and cannot exceed a duration of three months. The governor can convoke it extraordinarily. The sessions are not public.

Art 26 — If need be, the Central Assembly determines the basis, the amount, the duration and the mode of collection of taxes based on the state of the receipts and expenses presented to it, and on their increase or decrease. These states will be summarily published.

Title VIII On Government

Art 27 — The administrative reins of the colony are confided to a Governor, who directly corresponds with the government of the metropole in all matters relating to the colony

Art 28 — The Constitution names as governor Citizen Toussaint Louverture, General-in-Chief of the army of Saint-Domingue and, in consideration of the important services that the general has rendered to the colony in the most critical circumstances of the revolution, and per the wishes of the grateful inhabitants, the reins are confided to him for the rest of his glorious life.

Art 29 — In the future each governor will be named for five years, and can be continued every five years for reason of good administration.

Art 30 — In order to consolidate the tranquility that the colony owes to the firmness, the activity, the indefatigable zeal, and the rare virtues of General Toussaint Louverture, and as a sign of the unlimited confidence of the inhabitants of Saint-Domingue, the Constitution attributes exclusively to this general the right to choose the citizen who, in the unhappy instance of his death, shall immediately replace him. This choice shall be secret. It will be consigned in a sealed packet that can only be opened by the Central Assembly in the presence of all the generals of the army of Saint-Domingue in active service and the commanders-in-chief of the departments.

General Toussaint Louverture will take all the precautionary measures necessary to make known to the Central Assembly the place this important packet has been deposited.

Art 31 — The citizen who will have been chosen by General Toussaint Louverture to take the reins of government upon his death, will take a vow to the Central Assembly to execute the Constitution of Sant-Domingue and to remain attached to the French government, and will be immediately installed in his functions, all of this in the presence of the army generals in active service and the commanders-in-chief of the departments who will all, individually and without cease will pledge to the new governor the vow of obedience to his orders.

Art 32 — No more than one month before the expiration of the five years set for the administration of each sitting governor, he will convoke the Central Assembly, the meeting of army generals in active service and the

commanders- in- chief of the departments at the ordinary place of the meetings of the Central Assembly in order to name, along with the members of that Assembly, the new governor, or to maintain the sitting one in office.

Art 33 — Any failure in convocation on the part of the sitting governor is a manifest infraction of the constitution. In this case the highest ranking general, or the one with the most seniority of the same rank, who is on active duty in the colony shall take, by right and provisionally, the reins of government. This general will immediately convoke the other active duty generals, the commanders-in-chief of the departments and the members of the Central Assembly, all of who must obey the convocation in order to proceed with the nomination of a new governor.

In case of death, resignation or otherwise of a governor before the expiration of his functions, the government in the same way passes into the hands of the highest ranking general or the one with the most seniority of the same rank, who will convoke to the same ends as above the

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