Hist 1123: Primary Source one

Rafael Rojas

Professor Wyeth

HIST 1123

September 25, 2015

Primary Source One

Toward the end of the 18th century, the American and French revolutions were movements that helped end monarch rule in the United States and in France. On one hand you have the independence of the colonies and on the other, you have a shift of power from the wealthy, to the masses. The authors that wrote them, their intended audiences, the purpose for writing them, and the major points that the documents were trying to establish, characterize both of these documents.

The authors of The Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Rights of Man were very similar. The representatives of the people that were being oppressed crafted both of these documents. The authors of the Declaration of Independence were the leaders of the colonies in the new world. The colonists for years had lived under the tyranny of King George III for far too long. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence was appointed by the Second Continental Congress to draft up a proposal.

This proposal had major points that the colonists wanted to King of England and Parliament to adhere to. The inability of the British to allow the colonists to form their own government, stating “He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance”, also that the King had “refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” (Jefferson) The King wasn’t letting the colonies govern themselves. Another main point in the Declaration was the occupation and the acts of war that were being committed to the people on behalf of the British army. “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people,” proclaimed the drafters. The British occupation had caused the leaders of the colonies to take action. They had to house and feed the very soldiers that were murdering their brethren. The constant harassment they endured from the tax collectors had become too much to ignore. He along with others thought that the English had oppressed the colonies for too long and that something had to be done to combat the injustice. So they declared to the British Empire and mainly King George III that they didn’t want to live under his rule. The colonists felt that they weren’t being represented, and as a people, had a right to fair treatment just like all other royal subjects.

In France, the Declaration of the Rights of Man also had similar sentiments toward the monarch in rule. The representatives of the middle and lower classes of France felt that the wealthy and powerful were taking all the wealth that belonged to the country as a whole and that the social injustice targeting the poor and middle class had become too much. The excessive spending by the wealthy and the taxing of the poor was no way that the government should be run. The radicals in France, which consisted of the poor and the middle class, believed that France needed to realign the way the government was being run, from an excessively wasteful monarch to a more conservative government that worked for the masses and not the few.

They too believed that something had to be done to help protect their rights as a people, protect their liberty and protection from the government. So general Lafayette with the help of Thomas Jefferson drafted a proposal for the King of France and for all the elite that wanted this unfair treatment to continue. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Also that the “purpose of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” (Lafayette) All the people of France deserve to live a decent life and not just the wealthy and elite. The king shouldn’t have the power to govern everyone even if he is the “King”. The felt their liberty was in question as well. Every man had a right to fair trial, “every man being presumed