Duhaime's LawGallery - The Law In Pictures Gallery » Document » Item Details Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 26, 1789 Object type: Document Formal Title: Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, 26 août 1789 Creator: unknown Date Created: 1789 Origin: France Current Location: Centre historique des Archives nationales (Paris) This brown ink manuscript is dated August 20, 1789 and represents the transcript of debats of the French National Assembly in the final days of debate on a Declaration of the Rights of Man. By the 26th, the government called for a vote and what had been approved to date formed the first and most important version of the Déclaration. The brilliant initial words of the preamble flow in French calligraphy of the epoch, and have inspired legal drafters ever since, and for which any translation can only do partial justice: "The representatives of the people, organized as a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect or the contempt of the rights of man - (are) the sole causes of the public discontent and of the corruption of government...." REFERENCES: Duhaime, Lloyd, The Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789 This page has been viewed 2076 times.