Adopted by France’s National Constituent Assembly in August 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen serves as the foundational text of the French Revolution. The document was drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer and close associate of Thomas Jefferson. Its basic principle is that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”
The declaration was based on "natural laws," or the inalienable laws afforded to an individual (man) as a birthright, including freedom to own property, liberty, and resistance to oppression. It still has significant influence on the ideals of democratic societies today.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (via Wikimedia Commons)