1789: The Rights of Man as a Human Rights Milestone

On 26 August 1789, weeks after the fall of the Bastille, France's National Assembly adopted a seventeen-article Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Drafted with contributions from the Marquis de Lafayette, who consulted Thomas Jefferson, it proclaimed that men are born and remain free and equal in rights, that sovereignty resides in the nation, and that law is the expression of the general will.

It promised equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, freedom of opinion and religion within limits set by law, and free communication of ideas. Unlike the American documents, it was framed as universal, speaking of 'man' in general rather than of particular national liberties. Its limits soon became contested: women, enslaved people in France's colonies, Jews and Protestants all asked whether its promises applied to them, with different results. The Declaration became a model for many later constitutions and a reference point for the UDHR.