<P> The Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789 (French: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution . </P> <P> The Declaration was drafted by General Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and Honoré Mirabeau . Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself . It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law . It is included in the beginning of the constitutions of both the Fourth French Republic (1946) and Fifth Republic (1958) and is still current . Inspired by the Enlightenment philosophers, the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution and had a major impact on the development of freedom and democracy in Europe and worldwide . </P> <P> The Declaration, together with Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the United States Bill of Rights, inspired in large part the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights . </P> <P> The content of the document emerged largely from the ideals of the Enlightenment . The key drafts were prepared by Lafayette, working at times with his close friend Thomas Jefferson . In August 1789, Honoré Mirabeau played a central role in conceptualizing and drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen . </P>

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