Wk. 5 The Declarations England, USA, France

Question 1

The Declarations: England (1689), USA (1776), France (1789)

Answer 1

The Declarations: England (1689), USA (1776), France (1789) – These three Declarations were each produced to justify a revolution.

Did the authors of these declarations share common assumptions about how government should operate or the purpose of government?

• They all suggested that government must operate without overreaching it’s power and within the influence of the citizenry.
• There should be representation of the citizenry in the government.
• The purpose of the government is to work for the people, not for those in charge.

What types of behavior did they consider tyranical or illegitimate?

• Consolidating power under a single leader (king) was no good.
• Pushing out or negating the power of the citizenry (parliament).

England: The Declaration of Right (1689) – Following Britain’s bloodless “Glorious Revolution”, Mary, the daughter of the deposed King James II, and William of Orange, her husband, are proclaimed joint sovereigns of Great Britain under Britain’s new Bill of Rights. James himself was allowed to escape to France, and in February 1689 Parliament offered the crown jointly to William and Mary, provided they accept the Bill of Rights. (which they did)

• King James II overreached his power, trying to strip any power or balance from the citizens, by blocking and ignoring the parliament, which was their representation.
  
  • “By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without consent of Parliament.”
  • “By levying money for and to the use of the crown… …in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament.”
  • “By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace, without consent of Parliament…”
  • By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament. …contrary to the known laws…”

United States: Declaration of Independence (1776) – focuses heavily on the rights of the people:

• “all men are created equal”
• “…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
• “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” – consent of the governed (i.e. the citizenry) was a bold departure from the aristocracy, who had always declared their authority by divine right, meaning God made them the rightful leader.
• Pointed out that governments who abuse their power can and should be undone by the people.
  
  • “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
• Creates a list of power overreach by the current king of England:
  
  • “forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
  • “He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”
  • “He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.”

France: Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) – in France the overthrow of Louis XVI and the old regime in the French Revolution of 1789. Like the US Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of the Rights of Man immediately addresses power to the people and away from aristocracy.

• “rights of man”
• “natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man”
• “happiness of all”
• “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”
• “Every citizen has a right to participate personally”
• “All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations”
• But in this declaration, they seem to leave some room for treating some without equality.
  
  • “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” – Social Distinction sounds like predgudice on class, race, or gender.
  • “All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.” – “According to their abilities” and “Except of their virtues and talents” seems to leave room for subjective judgement of who is or is not worthy of equality and freedom.