Lynn Hunt

Prior to the French Revolution, most of France’s inhabitants lacked basic human rights such as political representation and economic freedom; power was held largely in the hands of the king, aristocracy, and clergy. The French Revolution is important because it helped establish the idea of human rights, Lynn Hunt asserts in the following viewpoint. Hunt explains that French legislators were influenced by British and American documents, including the 1689 English Bill of Rights and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. According to Hunt, the French belief in individual rights culminated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, adopted in August 1789, which gave French citizens the right to free speech, a free press, and equality under the law. She further notes that the discussion of human rights continued...