3 Review(s)

Rights of Man (1791-2) was the most famous defence of the French Revolution. The book containing 31 articles, concludes in proposing practical reformations of English government: a written Constitution composed by a national assembly, in the American mould. It further recommends the elimination of aristocratic titles, because democracy is incompatible with primogeniture, which leads to the despotism of the family. It proposes a national budget without allotted military and war expenses; lower taxes for the poor, and subsidised education for them; and a progressive income tax weighted against wealthy estates to prevent the re-emergence of a hereditary aristocracy.