Viewpoints
T
he French document was inspired by England’s Magna
Carta and the U.S. Declaration of Independence of 1776.
That document had claimed that all men “had been created
equal” and had also been given “
unalienable
” rights by God.
Those rights included “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness.” In the French version, the similar phrase was
“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”
In July 1789, French revolutionaries, or rebels,
rose up against their rulers. They replaced the
king with a government of citizens. In August,
the new government issued the
Declaration of
the Rights of Man
and of the
Citizen
.
The slogan of the French Revolution—
“Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood”—did not
apply to women in France or, for example,
Black people in French
colonies
.
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