The rise of modern political theory often marks a clear distinction between the concept of a royal ‘subject’ and a sovereign ‘citizen.’ Which major revolution is primarily credited with formalizing this intellectual shift, by dismantling feudal legal structures and establishing inherent, universal political rights explicitly in the form of ‘Man and Citizen’?

💡 Explanation:

The French Revolution (1789) is centrally associated with this shift. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) explicitly replaced the system of feudal privilege and royal subjecthood with the concept of citizenship based on natural rights, sovereignty residing in the nation, and equality before the law. While the American Revolution established rights, the French Revolution provided the most radical and universalist codification of the citizen against the European Ancien Régime.