Browse Primary Sources
Locate primary sources, including images, objects, media, and texts. Annotations by scholars contextualize sources.
The Réveillon Riot (28 April 1789)
The "manufactory" owned by Jean–Baptiste Réveillon in the Saint–Antoine neighborhood of Paris made decorative wallpaper, a lucrative luxury item that required highly skilled (and generally well–paid) workers. When a rumor circulated about Réveillon’s ill–timed speech in which he linked reduced wages and lower prices, the animosity of many guildsmen to Réveillon erupted in violence.
Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man and Citizen, Constitution of the Year III (1795)
After the fall of Robespierre and the dismantling of the Terror, the National Convention drafted yet another republican constitution. The new constitution was also approved in a referendum and put into effect 26 October 1795. It remained until Napoleon came to power in November 1799. Note that this declaration links duties with rights.
Discussion of Women’s Political Clubs and Their Suppression, 29–30 October 1793
On 29 October 1793, a group of women appeared in the National Convention to complain that female militants had tried to force them to wear the red cap of liberty as a sign of their adherence to the Revolution, but they also presented a petition demanding the suppression of the women’s club behind these actions.
Olympe de Gouges, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman (September 1791)
Marie Gouze (1748–93) was a self–educated butcher’s daughter from the south of France who, under the name Olympe de Gouges, wrote pamphlets and plays on a variety of issues, including slavery, which she attacked as being founded on greed and blind prejudice.
Condorcet, "On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship," July 1790
Condorcet took the question of political rights to its logical conclusions. He argued that if rights were indeed universal, as the doctrine of natural rights and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen both seemed to imply, then they must apply to all adults.
Decree of the National Convention of 4 February 1794, Abolishing Slavery in all the Colonies
News traveled slowly from the colonies back to France, and the first word of the emancipations in Saint Domingue aroused suspicion if not outright hostility in the National Convention.
Society of the Friends of Blacks, "Address to the National Assembly in Favor of the Abolition of the Slave Trade" (5 February 1790)
The Society of the Friends of Blacks rested their case for the abolition of the slave trade on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and the belief that political rights should be granted to religious minorities. Their denunciation of the slave trade resembles in its details the account of Abbé Raynal.
The Abolition of Negro Slavery or Means for Ameliorating Their Lot, 1789
The passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, explicitly cited in this pamphlet, did not go unnoticed by those who favored abolition of the slave trade and eventual emancipation of the slaves. Yet even the most determined adversaries of slavery worried about the consequences of immediate abolition, especially for the French economy.
Motion Made by Vincent Ogé the Younger to the Assembly of Colonists, 1789
Vincent Ogé presented the views of his fellow mulatto property owners to a meeting of the white planter delegates who had come to Paris from Saint Domingue, the largest and wealthiest French colony. Ogé came to Paris to press mulatto claims for full civil and political rights.
Abbé Maury, "Speech," 23 December 1789
Although he himself came from a family that had been forced to convert from Calvinism to Catholicism by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Abbé Jean–Siffrein Maury (1746–1817) made his reputation as a spokesman for the interests of the Catholic Church, the monarchy’s authority, and the established social hierarchy.
Clermont–Tonnerre, "Speech on Religious Minorities and Questionable Professions" (23 December 1789)
On 21 December 1789, a deputy raised the question of the status of non–Catholics under the new regime; his intervention started a long debate that quickly expanded to cover Jews, actors, and executioners, all of them excluded from various rights before 1789.
Robespierre, "Speech Denouncing the New Conditions of Eligibility," 22 October 1789
Few deputies opposed the property requirements for voting and holding office.
Thouret, "Report on the Basis of Political Eligibility" (29 September 1789)
Jacques–Guillaume Thouret (1746–94), a lawyer from Rouen, spoke for the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly that included, among others, Sieyès and Rabaut Saint–Etienne. His report formed the basis for the subsequent legislation on qualifications for voting and officeholding.
Decree of the National Assembly Abolishing the Feudal System, 11 August 1789
The abolition of the feudal system, which took place during the famous night session of 4–5 August 1789, was precipitated by the reading of a report on the misery and disturbances in the provinces. The voting was carried in a fervor of enthusiasm and excitement that made some later revision necessary.
The Interrelation of Colour
By 1969, international public opinion had begun to turn against the apartheid policies of the white minority regime in South Africa.
Scouting – Helping to Prepare Leaders of Tomorrow
Jeremiah (J.J.M.) Nyagah was one of the most senior African members of the Kenya Boy Scout Association during the colonial era. Trained as a teacher, after independence he entered politics and became a cabinet minister in Jomo Kenyatta's government. He was therefore a logical choice to assume the largely ceremonial role of Chief Scout Commissioner.
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery: Slave Coffle
Born in present-day Ghana, young Ottobah Cugoano was kidnapped and sold into slavery at the young age of 13. Cugoano worked in the sugar fields of a Grenadan plantation until 1773. That year, Cugoano traveled to England with his owner where he obtained his freedom, inspired in part by the Somerset Case, an English legal case that declared slavery illegal in England.
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery: Middle Passage
Born in present-day Ghana, young Ottobah Cugoano was kidnapped and sold into slavery at the young age of 13. Cugoano worked in the sugar fields of a Grenadan plantation until 1773. That year, Cugoano traveled to England with his owner where he obtained his freedom, inspired in part by the Somerset Case, an English legal case that declared slavery illegal in England.
Speech Defending an Increased Age of Consent in India
Mr Javeril Umiashankar Yajnik was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council and Chairman of the Bombay Public Meeting of the Hindoo Supporters of the Age of Consent Bill, held on February 22, 1891. On January 9, 1891, British colonial authorities had introduced a bill to raise the age of consent for unmarried and married Indian girls from 10 to 12 years.
The Student Stage of Life: Brahmacharya
According to Vedic philosophy, the life span of each person is divided into four stages, or ashrams. The word ashram means "shelter," referring to the protective nature of these phases against the turmoil of life.