The original version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen contained twenty-four clauses, but only seventeen were approved by the National Assembly. The rest were rejected because the debate over them was taking too long. Some people are so impatient. (Source)

King Louis XVI refused to endorse the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen until October 5, 1789…and even then he only did so to try to convince the angry mobs outside his palace to leave him alone. It didn't work. (Source)

Each time France rewrote its constitution during the Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was also revised. The 1793 version had 35 articles and the 1795 had 22 rights and 9 duties. Imagine how long it could have gotten if Napoleon hadn't stopped the whole thing. (Source)

While historians know who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, it wasn't signed by anyone. During the French Revolution it was frequently depicted as being handed down, in tablet form, from the Supreme Being. Dang: talk about overcompensating. (Source)

Original copies of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen are on display in Paris at the French National Archives and the Musee de Carnavalet, where it sits next to liberty caps and models of guillotines. (Source)