Thoughts and Reflections on The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

     The ideas put forth during the Enightenment by such thinkers and Locke and Rousseau became prevalent in newly formed constitutions. These ideas, primarily centering around equality and the inherent rights of man, were spelled out in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens. Apart from the revolutionaries in America, the National Assembly were the first to try to bring the ideas of the Enlightenment into government. Despite the sentiment expressed in this declaration however, the Fench Revolution was plagued by tyranny, wrongful executions, and general iniquities. During th Reign of Terror, Robespierre branded anyone who voiced the slightest anti-revolutionist ideals an enemy of the revolution and had them executed. After several decades of new monarchs and dictators, France eventually achieved the ideals laid down in the National Assembly's document.