<P> The concept of passive citizens was created to encompass those populations that had been excluded from political rights in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen . Because of the requirements set down for active citizens, the vote was granted to approximately 4.3 million Frenchmen out of a population of around 29 million . These omitted groups included women, slaves, children, and foreigners . As these measures were voted upon by the General Assembly, they limited the rights of certain groups of citizens while implementing the democratic process of the new French Republic (1792--1804). This legislation, passed in 1789, was amended by the creators of the Constitution of the Year III in order to eliminate the label of active citizen . The power to vote was then, however, to be granted solely to substantial property owners . </P> <P> Tensions arose between active and passive citizens throughout the Revolution . This happened when passive citizens started to call for more rights, or when they openly refused to listen to the ideals set forth by active citizens . This cartoon clearly demonstrates the difference that existed between the active and passive citizens along with the tensions associated with such differences . In the cartoon, a passive citizen is holding a spade and a wealthy landowning active citizen is ordering the passive citizens to go to work . The act appears condescending to the passive citizen and it revisits the reasons why the French Revolution began in the first place . </P> <P> Women, in particular, were strong passive citizens who played a significant role in the Revolution . Olympe de Gouges penned her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791 and drew attention to the need for gender equality . By supporting the ideals of the French Revolution and wishing to expand them to women, she represented herself as a revolutionary citizen . Madame Roland also established herself as an influential figure throughout the Revolution . She saw women of the French Revolution as holding three roles; "inciting revolutionary action, formulating policy, and informing others of revolutionary events ." By working with men, as opposed to working separate from men, she may have been able to further the fight of revolutionary women . As players in the French Revolution, women occupied a significant role in the civic sphere by forming social movements and participating in popular clubs, allowing them societal influence, despite their lack of direct political influence . </P> <P> The Declaration recognized many rights as belonging to citizens (who could only be male). This was despite the fact that after The March on Versailles on 5 October 1789, women presented the Women's Petition to the National Assembly in which they proposed a decree giving women equal rights . In 1790, Nicolas de Condorcet and Etta Palm d'Aelders unsuccessfully called on the National Assembly to extend civil and political rights to women . Condorcet declared that "he who votes against the right of another, whatever the religion, color, or sex of that other, has henceforth abjured his own". The French Revolution did not lead to a recognition of women's rights and this prompted Olympe de Gouges to publish the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in September 1791 . </P>

Who wrote a strong response to a declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen