Rights of Man, DECLARATION OF THE,

Rights of Man, DECLARATION OF THE, a famous statement of the constitution and principles of civil society and government adopted by the French National Assembly in August 1789. In historical importance it may fairly be ranked with the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence. It suggested the title for Paine's defence of the French Revolution against Burke (1791-92); which was followed by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's Vindication of the Rights of Women.