Consider the following statements about the declaration of human rights by the National Council in France in 1789:
(A) It contained rights not duties.
(B) It protected interests of the middle class.
(C) It had not guaranteed the enforcement of rights.
(D) It also assured the proletariat for livelihood. Which of the above statements are true?

Question

Consider the following statements about the declaration of human rights by the National Council in France in 1789: 
(A) It contained rights not duties. 
(B) It protected interests of the middle class. 
(C) It had not guaranteed the enforcement of rights. 
(D) It also assured the proletariat for livelihood. Which of the above statements are true?

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 2:
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted by the National Assembly in August 1789, was a foundational document of the French Revolution. Statement (A) is correct because the Declaration was primarily concerned with asserting fundamental, natural, and imprescriptible rights like liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression, and did not include a corresponding section on duties or obligations for citizens. Statement (B) is also correct because the revolution was largely driven by the bourgeoisie (the middle class), and the Declaration reflected their liberal ideology, particularly emphasizing property rights and equality before the law, which secured their socioeconomic gains against the old aristocratic order. Furthermore, statement (C) is true because while the Declaration proclaimed these rights, it lacked specific legal or institutional mechanisms for their immediate enforcement or judicial review, making it a declaration of principle rather than a concrete constitutional guarantee at that moment. Therefore, statements (A), (B), and (C) accurately describe the nature and context of this historic document.

The incorrect option is 1:
Option 1 suggests that statements (A) and (D) are true, but (D) is incorrect. The Declaration of 1789 was a liberal document focused on civil and political rights, rooted in Enlightenment philosophy. It did not include "social rights" such as the assurance of livelihood for the proletariat (working class), which would only become a focus of later, more radical phases of the revolution or socialist movements.

The incorrect option is 3:
Option 3 suggests (C) and (D) are true. While (C) is correct (the Declaration did not initially guarantee enforcement), (D) is incorrect. The Declaration did not assure the proletariat for livelihood; its rights were primarily formal and individualistic, not concerned with social welfare or economic guarantees.

The incorrect option is 4:
Option 4 is a duplicate of Option 1, suggesting (A) and (D) are true, which is incorrect because statement (D) is false for the reasons explained above. The document's focus was on political liberty and property rights, not economic support for the working class.