The object of all union of men in society being maintenance of their
natural rights, civil and political, these rights are the basis of the
social pact: their recognition and their declaration ought to precede
the Constitution which assures their guarantee.
1. The natural rights of men, civil and political, are liberty,
equality, security, property, social protection, and resistance to
oppression.
2. Liberty consists in the right to do whatever is not contrary to
the rights of others: thus, exercise of the natural rights of each
individual has no limits other than those which secure to other members
of society enjoyment of the same rights.
1 In his appeal from prison to the Convention (August 7,
1794) Paine states that he had, as a member of the Committee
for framing the Constitution, prepared a Plan, which was in
the hands of Barere, also of that Committee. I have not yet
succeeded in finding Paine's Constitution, but it is certain
that the work of framing the Constitution of 1793 was mainly
entrusted to Paine and Condorcet.
Dr. John Moore, in his work on the French Revolution,
describes the two at their work; and it is asserted that he
"assisted in drawing up the French Declaration of Rights,"
by "Juvencus," author of an able "Essay on the Life and
Genius of Thomas Paine," whose information came from a
personal friend of Paine. ("Aphorisms, Opinions, and
Reflections of Thomas Paine," etc., London, 1826. Pp. 3,
14.) A translation of the Declaration and Constitution
appeared in England (Debrett, Picadilly, 1793), but with
some faults. The present translation is from "Oeuvres
Completes de Condorcet," tome xviii. The Committee reported
their Constitution February 15th, and April 15th was set for
its discussion, Robespierre then demanded separate
discussion of the Declaration of Rights, to which he
objected that it made no mention of the Supreme Being, and
that its extreme principles of freedom would shield illicit
traffic. Paine and Jefferson were troubled that the United
States Constitution contained no Declaration of Rights, it
being a fundamental principle in Paine's theory of
government that such a Declaration was the main safeguard of
the individual against the despotism of numbers. See
supra, vol. ii.t pp. 138, 139.--_Editor._.
3. The preservation of liberty depends on submission to the Law, which
is the expression of the general will. Nothing unforbidden by law can be
hindered, and none may be forced to do what the law does not command.