Contribution+to+the+Constitution

= Declaration of the Rights of Man =

Rights of Man, Declaration of the, the charter of liberty adopted by the National Constituent Assembly of France in August, 1789, when the French Revolution was in its early stage. The declaration affirmed that all men have equal and inalienable rights and that the purpose of government is to preserve those rights. It listed the rights as “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." Liberty was defined as “the power to do anything that does not injure others." The declaration guaranteed protection from arbitrary arrest and the assent of the people to taxation. It endorsed free communication of ideas, but with the provision that this freedom was subject to legal restrictions against abuse. The Marquis de Lafayette, inspired by the Declaration of Independence of the American Revolution, in which he had fought, was one of the authors of the French document. The declaration was made a part of the French constitution of 1791 and influenced later constitutions of France and of other nations. It reflected the writings of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau, and was a classic statement of 18th-century liberalism. "**The Social Contract" written by Rousseau** as published by Wikipedia Perhaps Jean-Jacques Rousseau's most important work is //[|The Social Contract]//, which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order within a framework of [|classical republicanism]. Published in 1762, it became one of the most influential works of [|political philosophy] in the [|Western] tradition. It developed some of the ideas mentioned in an earlier work, the article //Economie Politique//, featured in Diderot's //Encyclopédie//. The treatise begins with the dramatic opening lines, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they." Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without [|law] or [|morality], which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation. According to Rousseau, by joining together into [|civil society] through the [|social contract] and abandoning their claims of [|natural right], individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the [|general will] of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the [|law]. In a [|natural state] all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his “life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
 * Philosophy of John Locke**

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Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an [|English King] by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the 1100 [|Charter of Liberties], when King [|Henry I] had specified particular areas where his powers would be limited. The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of [|constitutional law] in the [|English speaking world], although it was "far from unique, either in content or form".[|[3]] In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period did not in general limit the power of kings, but by the time of the [|English Civil War] it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law. It influenced the early settlers in [|New England][|[4]] and inspired later constitutional documents, including the [|United States Constitution].[|[5]]
 * Magna Carta** is an [|English] [|charter], originally issued in the year 1215, and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions that omit certain temporary provisions, including the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority. The charter first passed into law in 1225. The 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) **The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest**, still remains on the [|statute] books of [|England and Wales].