Declaration of the rights and of the man
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The document, "Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen" was written during a period over July and August of 1789, and was drafted by the National Assembly. A committee of 30 members appointed by the National Assembly wrote the Declaration and was it adopted on the 26th of August 1789. At this time, the National Assembly consisted mainly of citizens that belonged to the 3rd estate. That is, a citizen classed from the peasantry to the upper middle class. This encompassed approximately 95% of the population although around mid June 1789 the numbers in the 3rd Estate had grown significantly stronger when many of the clergy, or 2nd Estate, joined the National Assembly after an invitation had been extended to both 1st and 2nd estates.
The rationale of The Declaration was to document the rights of all citizens of France. It called for an end to the tradition of the 3rd estate serving and funding, through an unfair tax system, the 1st and 2nd estates. This proved to be the final blow to the Feudal system, effectively deconstructing the privileges that the clergy and nobility had once enjoyed, although these had been widely denounced during the forming of the National Assembly.
The content of the Declaration is quite specific. It more clearly defines the tax system, liberty, jurisdiction of the law, use if the military, rights of ownership, ands its relationship to the entire population of France...