While the Declaration of Independence mentions equality and the idea that mankind has certain rights that can never be taken away, it stops short of actually listing them outright.

That task is left up to James Madison, who wrote the Bill of Rights. It was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1789…the same summer that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was written.

Coincidence? Probably not.

Madison was a good friend of Jefferson, who was serving as Ambassador to France and hanging out with Lafayette while all these rights were being put into lists. They frequently shared ideas and read drafts of each other's writing, so the Bill of Rights for both America and France were created at the same time by cross-Atlantic pen pals.