Essay Questions for Thinking through Sources 16

1. Considering ideas and circumstances: Historians frequently debate the relative importance of ideas in shaping historical events. What impact do you think the ideas about rights expressed in these documents had on the historical development of the Atlantic world and beyond? And what specific historical contexts or conditions shaped the understanding of “rights” expressed in each of these sources?
2. Making comparisons: Which sources speak more about individual rights, and which focus attention on collective rights? What common understandings can you identify?
3. Imagining a conversation: How might the creators of these sources have responded to one another? What points of agreement might they share? What differences might arise in a conversation among them?
4. Defining a common origin: In what respects did each of these sources derive from the French Revolution?