How was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) similar to the Declaration of the Rights of the Russian People (1917), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and the English Bill of Rights (1688)? What a great question for the final exam! For the final in HIS 102, I provide you with a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948. The Declaration was passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and in many respects the Declaration capped a centuries-long evolution of Western understanding of human and political rights. And so in this assignment, I ask you to compare the Universal Declaration with the earlier documents that you have read and analyzed, including the Russian, French, American and English documents along with the Bismarck and Hitler excerpts (if you so desire). Try and find some common elements between all these documents and, if you can, indicate the historical connections and how one document evolved from another over the last three centuries. When you take the exam you will have a copy of the Universal Declaration with you, but you cannot bring any notes to the exam, nor will you have copies of the earlier documents. I suggest that you prepare very closely the specific points that you want to make when you are going to the Testing Center. I realize that this question might be a bit of a challenge, but I think it is a fair and also very interesting assignment, allowing you great leeway in forging an interpretation and analysis of the development of the Western world over the last three hundred years. Since this assignment is a comparison, you should indicate some brief points of contrast and also some points of comparison. Do not feel that you need to include something about all of the documents, but do try to indicate your interpretation of much that we have covered this semester.