Two Declarations Side by Side: 1776 and 1789

The American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen share Enlightenment language, and the connection was personal: Thomas Jefferson, then US minister in Paris, commented on drafts by his friend Lafayette. Yet the documents differ in purpose. The American text is mainly a justification for separation, listing grievances against George III, with a short statement of self-evident rights.

The French text is a statement of general principles for a society that was staying together and remaking itself: men are 'born and remain free and equal in rights', sovereignty resides in the nation, and law is 'the expression of the general will', a phrase reflecting Rousseau. The American document appeals to a Creator; the French appeals to the 'Supreme Being'. Reading them together shows how similar ideas served a war of independence in one place and a social revolution in another.