Comparing The Declaration Of Independence And The Declaration Of Rights Of Man

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Only a few of political documents have affected the world quite like the American Declaration of Independence or the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and The Declaration of Rights of Man was written by the National Assembly in 1789. Both articles embodied the Enlightenment ideologies of indicating equal rights and liberty.
The Declaration of Independence was a document declaring the United States to be independent of the British. Representatives of the Thirteen Colonies signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence has been important to American people because it is what led to their independence from the Great Britain. And it also justified their right to rebel against a government that no longer guaranteed their natural rights. The Declaration
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Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence, “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creators with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Similarly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man illustrates that, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Article 1 of the French Declaration says that all men “are born and remain free and equal.” This clearly echoes Thomas Jefferson’s phrase from the Declaration of Independence. Both declarations take this idea from the Enlightenment idea of legal equality. And both of their concepts come from the Enlightenment idea that people have individual rights and freedoms. Those ideas came from the famous Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau that believed that all people in a society were equal, and should be recognize as such under the

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