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Should rights belong to everyone—or pass from parent to child like land?
In A Vindication of the Rights of Men, Mary Wollstonecraft answers Edmund Burke’s attack on the French Revolution and its English supporters, including Richard Price. Her political pamphlet challenges the claim that age makes a custom good, or that inherited rank gives anyone a stronger claim to liberty.
Burke defends property, tradition and inherited liberties. Wollstonecraft asks what these protect—and whom they leave exposed to injustice. She argues that rights rest on reason and God, rather than ancestry. Her anger drives a sharp contest over human dignity, political power and the difference between fine feelings and justice.
What you’ll discover
- Rights beyond inheritance Follow Wollstonecraft’s case for rights grounded in reason, not handed down like an estate.
- Tradition under scrutiny Watch her question whether an old custom deserves respect simply because it survives.
- The cost of rank See how her attack on inherited wealth exposes the injustice that property can shield.
- Feeling put to the test Explore her sharp reply to Burke’s tender portrait of Marie Antoinette and lost chivalry.
- Fine words, weak arguments Discover why she treats Burke’s gift for grand feeling as a political danger.
Who will love it
For readers who love political thought and the history of the French Revolution, and anyone curious about the roots of modern feminism and human rights.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fast reply to Burke's alarm
- Rights come from reason, not inheritance
- Property and rank shield injustice
- Feeling without justice is only a show
- Burke's style hides weak argument
- Why the pamphlet still matters
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A Vindication of the Rights of Men
by Mary Wollstonecraft · 1790
Wollstonecraft confronts Burke with a defence of reason and human rights against inherited privilege.
Challenging2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
A Vindication of the Rights of Men is a political pamphlet by Mary Wollstonecraft, published in London in November 1790. She wrote it, in answer to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, which had appeared only days before.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A fast reply to Burke's alarm
To follow Wollstonecraft, you need to know what she is answering. Edmund Burke was a respected member of Parliament who had once spoken up for the American colonists. In his Reflections he warned that the French were tearing down their old order and putting abstract theory in its place. He praised the English constitution as an inheritance handed down from the past.
Wollstonecraft was about thirty-one and was not yet famous. She was shocked that Burke, once a friend of liberty as she saw it, now seemed to mock it. She also took personal offence at the way he treated Richard Price, a minister she admired, whose sermon had set Burke off.
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Details
- First published
- 1790
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 45 min
- Level
- Challenging
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What is A Vindication of the Rights of Men about?
It is a reply to Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution. Wollstonecraft argues that rights come from reason, not from tradition or rank, and she criticizes inherited privilege, the worship of property and Burke's showy feeling for the French queen.
Why did Mary Wollstonecraft write it?
She wrote it in late 1790 after Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France appeared. She disliked his defense of rank and custom and his scorn for Richard Price, and she wanted to answer him.
Is it the same as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman?
No. The Rights of Men came first, in 1790, and answers Burke. The Rights of Woman followed in 1792 and applies similar ideas about reason and dependence to the education and place of women.
The author
Mary Wollstonecraft
1759–1797 · English feminist writer and philosopher
Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer born in London in 1759. She lived in England, Ireland and France. She wrote Mary: A Fiction (1788), A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). She died in London in 1797.
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