Jean-Jacques Rousseau published The Social Contract in 1763 to discuss the idea that consensus among citizens results in their own freedom and liberty. Thirteen years later John Hancock and fifty-five others signed the American Declaration of Independence into action on July 4, 1776, declaring the United States as thirteen independent states free of British rule. Another important document in the history of the rights of citizens, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, is constructed twenty-six years after the publication of Rousseau’s The Social Contract. Both the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Declaration of Independence are heavily influenced by The Social Contract, all resting on ideals that are significant in forming new societies. Reflections from the American Declaration of Independence can also be found in the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
The Social Construct impacts The Declaration of Independence in that both documents share principle ideas of a government governing due to the consent of its citizens. They also share similar thinking on freedom. The Declaration of Independence states that “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This statement on the need of consent from the citizens is expressed first in The Social Construct when it is stated that “The only will dominating government…should be the general will or the law.” It is later stated that “Any law that the people have not ratified in person is void, it is not a law at all.” In The Social Contract the sovereign employ the government as a tool to carry out the general will they all came together for. Because government is used as a way to secure the citizens’ rights, as similarly reflected in the Declaration of Independence, the governed are able to change or alter the government in order to organize it in a way that best benefits them as citizens. Both documents share similar ideas on freedom. Rousseau writes that “Man was born free” and this is reflected in the Declaration of Independence when it is stated “That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” More conclusively, the Declaration of Independence’s purpose is to declare the new states as independent and free, a reflection of Rousseau’s Enlightenment thinking.
It is without a doubt that the American Declaration of Independence then influenced the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, approved on August 26, 1789 by the National Assembly of France. While the documents were written under different circumstances, each document stressed that all people are free and equal. The American Declaration of Independence states “That all men are created equal,” while the Rights of Man states that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” This Enlightenment idea of equality, while definitely a product of Enlightenment thinkers, was reflected in the Rights of Man due to the fact that the American Declaration of Independence was the document that paved the way for this kind of thinking as one of the first official documents to declare human rights. The American Declaration of Independence declares that Britain “[imposes] taxes…without [their] consent.” This is reflected in the Rights of Man as they declare that, “All the citizens have a right to decide…the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.” This right of fair and equal tax is yet another principle in the Declaration of the Rights of Man heavily influenced by the American Declaration of Independence. Further, the Declaration of the Rights of Man reflects the American Declaration of Independence’s principle of just punishment. The American Declaration declares that Britain has “[deprived them] of the benefits of trial by jury [and transported them] beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses.” This principle influences the French when they state that “All persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty [and] the law shall provide for punishment sonly as are strictly and obviously necessary.” It is certain that the French were influenced by the Americans on the principles of fair trial and punishment.
While the French Declaration of the Rights of Man was influenced by the American Declaration of Independence, Rousseau’s The Social Contract is also reflected in the document. Again, as previously stated, the Enlightenment idea of equality, is reflected from The Social Contract in the Rights of Man. In The Social Contract Rousseau reasons that no law is just without the consent of the people and their general will. Rousseau writes that “The only will dominating government…should be the general will or the law.” This is almost directly represented in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man as “Law is the expression of the general will.” Also influenced by The Social Contract are the French’s declarations on religion and personal opinions. The Social Contract states that “the dogmas [associated with each citizen’s] religion are of no interest to the State except as they relate to morality.” In addition, “each person may have whatever opinions he pleases.” In the French Declaration of the Rights of Man this same idea is reflected, as it is declared that “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.” This is a clear reflection of Rousseau’s thinking in The Social Contract. Both the declarations on opinions and equality in the Rights of Man are influenced by the ideas in Rousseau’s The Social Contract.
To conclude, all three of these documents were monumental in the declarations of rights for humans as citizens. It is clear to see that Rousseau’s Enlightenment ideals of equality and freedom, free religion and opinions, and the general will of the people were heavily influential on France’s and America’s declarations. America’s declarations on the rights of equality, fair tax, and just punishment then influenced the French in their Declaration of the Rights of Man. While the circumstances for writing these documents were different, it is important to highlight how our founding declaration came to be.