Question: what powers did the new government claim as free and independent states

title: United States Declaration of Independence
text: Many leaders of the French Revolution admired the Declaration of Independence but were also interested in the new American state constitutions . The inspiration and content of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen ( 1789 ) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution . Its key drafts were prepared by Lafayette , working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson . It also borrowed language from George Mason 's Virginia Declaration of Rights . The declaration also influenced the Russian Empire . The document had a particular impact on the Decembrist revolt and other Russian thinkers .