Constructed-Response Practice Set 2

Document A: "All men are born and remain free and equal in rights. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural rights of man." Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, August 1789

Document B: "The free citizens of Saint-Domingue have heard the proclamation that all men are born free and equal in rights. They demand to know whether they too are men, and whether the universal rights proclaimed in Paris apply also to those held in chains on French sugar plantations." Account of revolutionary stirring in Saint-Domingue, 1791

Question 1: Based on Document A, identify two principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Strong sample answer: "The Declaration proclaims that all men are born free and equal in rights, and that the purpose of political association is to preserve natural rights."

Question 2: Based on Document B, explain how the Declaration of the Rights of Man helped cause the Haitian Revolution.

Strong sample answer: "The Declaration's universal language gave enslaved and free people of color in Saint-Domingue powerful evidence that the principles France proclaimed should apply to them as well. By demanding to know whether they too were men entitled to natural rights, the people of Saint-

Domingue used the French Revolution's own ideas to demand freedom, helping spark the revolution that would produce Haitian independence."