Page 120 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

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Stringer, C., & Gamble, C. (1993). In search of the Neanderthals. New American Declaration of Independence in 1776 declared
York: Thames and Hudson. that “all men are created equal,” but all of the original
Tattersall, I. (1996). The fossil trail: How we know what we think we know
about human evolution. New York: Oxford University Press. thirteen states in fact granted rights only to white males,
Tattersall, I., & Schwartz, J. H. (2001). Extinct humans. Boulder, CO: and many only to male property-holders; African slaves,
Westview Press.
Native Americans, and women were granted no rights to
participate in political decision-making. Slavery was not
eliminated until almost nine decades after the United
Human States declared its independence; women were not given
the vote until 1920; and Native Americans were not
Geography finally accepted as U.S. citizens until 1924.

Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution
See Cartography; Cultural and Geographic Areas; Geo- in 1789 was based on concepts of individual liberty, and
graphic Constructions some European writers of the time articulated the water-
shed idea of a government, based on the consent of the
governed, that would protect the worth of each individ-
ual. France and the other European nations moved slowly,
Human Rights however, in the direction of any real recognition of indi-

vidual equality.
uman rights have emerged as a major subject of
Hinternational law during the past sixty years. Before Laws of War
World War II, the international community gave little During the nineteenth century, international tribunals
attention to how a country treated its own citizens within were occasionally established to protect the rights of
its own borders. This reluctance ended after the world aliens who were discriminated against or exploited by
witnessed the horrors committed by Germany against its the countries in which they resided. Although these tri-
own citizens during World War II, as well as by Germany bunals were generally a product of power politics, some
and Japan against the citizens of the countries they occu- of their decisions included a clear recognition of the
pied. After the war, those building a new international rights of the individual.
legal structure understood that protecting the human Western nations also made efforts in the nineteenth
rights of all people was central to avoiding future global century to reduce the destructive effects of warfare by dis-
conflagrations. In the second half of the twentieth cen- tinguishing between combatants and noncombatants
tury, the spread of democracy and the recognition of the and by protecting those captured in battle. In the United
worth of each individual further boosted the priority of States, President Abraham Lincoln asked Francis Lieber
global human rights issues. to draft a code to govern military conduct during the
U.S. Civil War (1860–1865).The laws of armed conflict
Historical Background were further developed by international treaties such as
The focus on individual rights in Europe evolved over those promulgated at the 1899 and 1907 Hague Con-
centuries as monarchies began loosening their grip on ferences, which attempted to protect civilians from the
absolute power and recognized the political and eco- scourge of war and focused on prohibiting the use of
nomic rights of at least some individuals. In England, the weapons that caused unnecessary suffering without pro-
Magna Carta in 1215 and events in subsequent centuries viding a significant military advantage
gradually gave wealthy male property-owners some The Geneva Conventions of 1929 provided a com-
rights that they could assert against the crown. The prehensive and widely ratified set of treaties designed to