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- Title
The Doctor of the Rights of Man.
- Authors
Armbruster, Ian
- Abstract
Although born in 1717 in England, Dr. Richard Gem would spend most of his adulthood studying and practicing French medicine, or French physic as it was known. Dr. Gem's passion for French medicine would lead him on the path to becoming the doctor assigned to the English embassy in Paris in 1762, where he would work for more than thirty years. Dr. Gem's position at the embassy allowed him to have a renaissance in political affairs while he worked closely with Thomas Jefferson and many French patriots leading up to and during the French Revolution of 1789. Dr. Gem's primary and most important work involved writing foundational ideas of essential rights for citizens that he then shared with Jefferson. It is highly probable that Jefferson used these ideas and shared them when aiding the Marquis de Lafayette in drafting their natural rights of man into the final document known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, Lafayette's catechism for France. Gem's influence on the Declaration of the Rights of Man is revealed when one assesses the relationship between Dr. Gem and Jefferson, considers a document that was written by Dr. Gem and sent by Jefferson to James Madison in early 1789, and compares the drafts for a Declaration of the Rights of Man by Lafayette throughout 1789 with Dr. Gem's earlier draft.
- Subjects
FRENCH Revolution, 1789-1799; HUMAN rights; GEM, Richard; CATECHISMS; RENAISSANCE
- Publication
Midwest Journal of Undergraduate Research (MJUR), 2019, Issue 10, p130
- ISSN
2160-9357
- Publication type
Article