How did the National Assembly attempt to Reform France?
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be based only upon the common good. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. The source for all sovereignty is essentially in the nation (that is, the people); no body, no individual can exercise authority that does not emanate from it expressly. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does not injure others; accordingly, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those that assure to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These limits can be determined only by law. The law can forbid only such actions as are injurious to society. Nothing can be forbidden by the law, and no one can be constrained to do that which it does not decree. Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take p
