Book, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Contribution 1/15[LS]

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, of 1789, emerged in one of the most effervescent periods in the history of humanity. The conciseness of its ideas and the plasticity of its provisions contributed, with great intensity, to the diffusion of human rights on the European continent, which earned it a position of deserved prominence in the scope of human achievements.. Furthermore, there were many who touted its originality and indicated, as its basis for justification, the ideas defended by Rousseau in the famous Social Contract.. The true origin and the exact existential foundation of the maxims embraced by the French Declaration were the target of the sharp scientific spirit of Georg Jellinek, who carried out a detailed historical-comparative analysis, with the objective of demonstrating that the French Declaration, far from being marked by the trait of originality, has its origins in Anglo-Saxon thought, more specifically in the Bills of Rights edited by several independent States of North America, formerly English colonies.. It does not make mere conjectures, but rather an effective textual comparison, allowing the definitive recovery of the origin of institutes that endure to this day, forming the very basis of contemporary constitutionalism.. Another aspect of singular importance is that the rights recognized in the North American declarations did not have a political origin, but were essentially religious, the result of the freedom of conscience that was beginning to germinate at the time of the Reformation.. Freedom of conscience characterized the individuality of the human being, and this individuality was the foundation supporting the innate rights that were recognized during the Franco-American Revolutions.. It is also worth highlighting the fact that the rights included in the American Bill of Rights were already incorporated into the daily lives of the former colonies, and were even recognized by the English Crown.. It is important to emphasize that these pre-existing rights were effectively declared, not constituted.. In French lands, the Ancien Régime was marked by monarchical absolutism, in which only the nobility and the clergy had rights, not the bourgeoisie and much less the people.. A source of reference for understanding fundamental rights from a historical perspective, deserving to be known by all those interested in the subject, students or legal practitioners.