Read the excerpt below from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen, a document that expressed many of the most important ideas that
motivated the French Revolution. Which of the generalizations that follow the
excerpt accurately describes this excerpt's key ideas?
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
Social distinctions may be founded only upon the
general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation
of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man.
These rights are liberty, property, security, and
resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in
the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any
authority which does not proceed directly from the
nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything
which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the
natural rights of each man has no limits except those
which assure to the other members of the society the
enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only
be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to
society. Nothing may be prevented which is not
forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do
anything not provided for by law.
1. Declaration of the Rights of Man-1789, "The Avalon Project," Yale Law School Lillian
Goldman Law Library, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th century/rightsof.asp.
OA. Laws should only be passed if they will affect a very small number
of citizens.
OB. People should be allowed to act in any way they choose without
being limited by rules or laws.
OC. Leaders grant their subjects certain rights and cannot take them
away.
OD. Governments should never be given the power to strip citizens of
their natural liberty and equality.