Identify a major consequence of the French Revolution in 1789.

• A. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen established universal rights and challenged the Ancien Régime.
• B. The establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France.
• C. The unification of Italy.
• D. The abolition of monarchy in Britain.

Answer: (A)

Universal rights and popular sovereignty becoming the driving force of politics is what this item highlights as the major consequence of the French Revolution in 1789. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed that all people are born free and equal in rights and established fundamental freedoms—liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. It reframed political legitimacy, arguing that sovereignty resides in the people rather than in a hereditary or privileged class, and that government exists to protect universal rights. This shift challenged the privileges of the Ancien Régime and laid the ideological groundwork for future constitutional developments and liberal reforms across Europe.

That moment does not depict France moving toward a constitutional monarchy, which would come later, nor does it relate to the unification of Italy or any move to abolish the monarchy in Britain. Those events fall outside the immediate outcome of the 1789 Revolution.