How did the National Assembly's issuance of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen evolve? Why was this document originally perceived as insufficient?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. After finding themselves frustrated by the voting structure of the Estates General, which insisted on a corporate vote that would pit the First and Second Estates against the Third Estate rather than voting by head count, some members of the Third Estate declared the process useless and formed the National Assembly. They invited some members of the clergy and nobility to participate in the writing of a constitution. Louis XVI, shaken by these events, promised to address the Estates General, but in the meantime declared them in recess and not allowed to meet; thus, when the National Assembly showed up to debate the issue, they found themselves locked out. They moved to a local tennis court, where they took the oath not to disband again without a constitution. Louis was reluctantly forced to accept this oath until the end of June 1789, when he ordered the army to disband the National Assembly. This resulted in riots in the streets of Paris and ultimately to the storming of the Bastille on July 14. After a wave of violence continued, on the night of August 4, 1789, the National Assembly (which had never disbanded) declared an end to all feudal dues and privileges of the First and Second Estates. Several weeks later, at the end of August, the National Assembly presented the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, providing sweeping reforms to the government of France, including the shared authority of the National Assembly with the king, who would now be limited by a constitution.