Comparing The Declaration Of Rights Of Man And Citizen, By Jean Jacques Rousseau

By June 17, 1789, the king of France, Louis XVI, was out of money and the entire country was paying the price. The Estates General had convened, which signaled the failure of King Louis XVI to effectively manage the finances and estate system of his country. At this Estates General meeting, many representatives of the Third Estate disliked the system of voting by estates and broke off to form the National Assembly. The National Assembly of France then drafted the guiding document for the French Revolution, The “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” on August 26, 1789. The ideals of natural rights and equality for men in this document came from the brilliant political philosophy of John Locke’s “The Second Treatise on Government.” This document was also influenced by Rousseau’s ideals of acting for the general will and popular sovereignty which he detailed in his book “The Social Contract.” “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” is the most crucial element for the formation of a new government system in France because it used the ideals from John Locke and Rousseau to ensure equality, popular sovereignty, and freedom, which had so often been denied
Rousseau’s makes it clear that “the only will dominating government should be the general will or the law.” The National Assembly of France used this principle in the sixth listed right in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen which reads that “the law is an expression of the general will.” The general will, as Rousseau states, is for the best of the common interest of the country. The king will not always act in the best interest of his country, so it is imperative to form a constitutional monarchy that seeks to act in the best interest of the general