The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen is a French document that first appeared on the 26th of August, 1789. It was first written by the bourgsousie, more specifically, the lawyers and merchants of the third estate, and then was adopted by the National Assembly. It was meant to give equal and just rights to every man so it said, but it was actually more geared towards the property owners, it protected their rights …showed first 75 words of 400 total…

…showed last 75 words of 400 total…their rights were all but taken away. They were not allowed to take advantage of the third estate anymore, and becuase of the declaration, many of the nobles fled from France to other countries such as Germany, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The declaration formed the preamble to the new constitution of 1791 and has served as a model for most of the declarations of political and civil rights adopted by European states in the 19th century.