Montesquieu's Contributions to the Enlightenment

807 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Modern period Enlightenment

Many people living in The United States like to think that our founding fathers thought of the basic construction of our whole government system. They really did not; Charles-Louis Secondat, baron de Montesquieu thought of the system of checks and balances plus the three branches of government. The whole framework of our Constitution is based on what Montesquieu thought of during the enlightenment period. The purpose of the three branches is to make it where no one person or group of people is greater than the rest. Montesquieu wanted to make a government where the people had a say in what happened and there wasn't a single person in charge. The system of checks and balances was to reinforce what he was trying to do. Making it where one branch could stop another from making a bad choice for the country. This system of checks and balances mostly is there to stop one branch from abusing the other or from making decisions the people do not want.

Montesquieu argued that to protect the rights of the nation and the security of destruction from the law; self governing bodies must possess individual powers to slow down the natural tendencies of an absolute monarchy. Basically Montesquieu thought that in order to get out of an absolute monarchy and to govern yourself; you must protect the rights of your country and stop the destruction of your country from the law. He thought that human beings could solve society's problems by using their ability to reason. Montesquieu thought that people should take a direct part in their government and not follow what a king or dictator says. That the people living in the country should decide what laws they live by and what there freedoms are. He also thought that peoples ability to reason meant th...

... middle of paper ...

...hout his contributions to the Enlightenment period our country might have turned out the opposite of now.

I think that without Montesquieu’s contributions to government our world would not be where it is today. Because of this one person our country is set up where the people living in it are the ones who get to decide what happens to them. The people are in charge of their own governmental system; putting them in charge of their own life. The most important thing about Montesquieu was that he wanted to find a way where the people who knew how to reason were in charge. He wanted to find a way where people were in charge of their own life and weren’t just a puppet to their dictator. He wanted to make sure that because every body could reason that every body has an opportunity to voice their opinion freely. What he ‘enlightened’ in our society is our government.

Show More
Related

  • Separation Of Powers Dbq Essay Power

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start out with, the constitution divided power so no one branch or person had complete power over the nation or others. In document B it states, ¨Liberty requires that the three departments of power are distinct and separate.¨ This means that in order to prevent and guard against tyranny we must have different and separate branches holding power if there is only one or they are too similar that could create a small group with close to complete power creating a tyranny. Power must be separated into three branches so that they may check and limit each other so that no laws are passed that will harm the nation and are unconstitutional. The three branches are very separate but can

    Read More

  • Rousseau Influence On American Government

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Montesquieu states “government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another”. From this doctrine American Political Philosophers derived the separation of powers into the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches. Montesquieu’s presentation of the branches of government were adopted into American political documents upon their creation. The idea that there wasn’t one governing body, but three was unheard of. Most occupants of the new “America” came from England a country ruled by a King. Therefore making it a Monarchy where a single family is seen as divine and ordained by God to be the ruler over that country. The power is passed down generation to generation and each firstborn son is then placed in power after his father. So, the idea of having a government that does not just depend on one family, but many different persons to run it was not a common philosophy. But, the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights thought that this would be a new and honorable way to run their fledgling country. So thus, the Democratic Republic of the United States was born. Designating the three branches with their own roles in society guaranteed that no one branch would have more power that the others, but it would just have different powers. The three branches are like a triangle. They balance eachother out and support each

    Read More

  • The New Science of Politics

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    "This inquiry will naturally divide itself into three branches- the objects to be provided for by a federal government, the quantity of power necessary to the accomplishment of those objects, the persons whom that power ought to operate," writes Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist #23 in reference to the separation of powers. The basic concept here is the idea of the federal government being divided into three separate branches that would balance excessive democracy through a system of checks on each other. The three branches, respectively known as the legislature (Article I), the executive (Article II), and the judiciary (Article III), were designed to entice the opponents of the Co...

    Read More

  • French Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And Citizen

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Revolutionary system served as a model, exemplifying the potential for great change and consolidation. The United States Constitution also provided a template for the French National Assembly. Montesquieu’s proposal of the separation of powers, as well as democratic conventions with representatives of the French people provided protection for the people against their government, securing “the greatest freedom and security for a state” (Duiker and Spielvogel 463). According to Article XV, people possessed the right to hold government officials accountable for their actions, developing a moral incentive as well as a foundational right for a more democratic society (National Assembly). France’s preparation for their independence showed a strong desire for equality and representation that mirrored that of the United

    Read More

  • What was Montesquieu?s aim in writing The Spirit of the Laws?

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Spirit of the Laws took Montesquieu twenty years to write and was first published in Geneva in 1748. It was distributed freely, without the hindrance of censorship and deemed and instant success, despite negative feedback from friends to whom the manuscript was shown. After two years and twenty-two impressions made across Europe many critics arose of his work, however this merely added to the fame of the author. Despite his critics, Montesquieu knew he had created a worthy and original work of political theory expressed by the phrase of his last preface ‘an offspring made without a mother’. (Montesquieu 1989: preface) This suggests that Montesquieu intended to create a distinctive political theory which was unlike any of his predecessors. Although he quotes famous predecessors such as Plato and Aristotle, he treats them as sources of information rather than philosophical fundamentals.

    Read More

  • How Did Montesquieu And Rousseau Influence The French Revolution

    340 Words  | 1 Pages

    Philosophers Montesquieu and Rousseau influenced the French Revolution most, by changing the views of the power of man and government. They increased criticism of absolute monarchy and an increase in republican ideals. During this time, their words of criticism and beliefs on government encouraged the 3rd estate, the common people of France. The 1st estate, the Clergy, and 2nd estate, the Nobles, despised Montesquieu’s belief on government, and laughed upon Rousseau’s idea of “Equality in society.”

    Read More

  • The Key to the Protection Against Tyranny in the American Constitution

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ny of a branch by setting controls on each branch set by the other branches. Fairly equalizing representation in Congress protected the power of small states overall while preserving that of larger states. However, the framers may have mistakenly given the power to prevent tyranny to the government, not the people. The framers crafted a delicate system, but one that focused on creating strong inter-governmental relations. Since the first Constitution was drafted, power slowly began shifting to the national government. If the branches wished to control more, it would not matter if they controlled each other because they would all move together. The focus on creating a government as far away as possible from despotic in a group of white, mostly wealthy, and educated landowners may have prevented the creation of the sort of tyranny-free system the people wished for.

    Read More

  • Montesquieu's Approach to Checks and Balances

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the course of the semester, the class has discussed a variety of theories about legitimacy and government. In Hobbes, authority hinges on the Leviathan, with Locke, authority rests on the people and with Rousseau, an extreme version of Locke. Yet in each case, there appears to be a focus on one individual or one group of people. What institutions can enforce that the group who possesses legitimate power do not overstep their authority? Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu advocates for a solution that results in a system of government that has the sovereign not abuse his or their power. Thus, a system of checks and balances.

    Read More

  • The US Constitution

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    The founding fathers of the American Constitution divided the government up into the following three branches to prevent the majority from ruling with an iron fist; legislative, judicial, and executive. The three braches were created by the Constitution: Article 1, Legislative branch made up of the House and the Senate, collectively known as Congress; Article 2, Executive branch, or President; Article 3, Judicial branch, made up of the federal courts and the Supreme Court. This was done in efforts to distribute power amongst the three so that one would not have more power than the other. Each branch has the ability to check the power of the other branches. This power check of the other branches is referred to as the checks and balances, better known as the Separation of Powers. This was to prevent tyriny.

    Read More

  • Manipulative Systems: Illusions of Freedom

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    His system of three branches substantially influenced the United States’ government as we know it today as he seeked to modify the system by assigning different roles to the three different branches with an equivalence of powers; furthermore, his system managed to maintain law and order, liberty of the public, and the property of the individuals without creating violence and corruption with the government. Each of the branches also has it’s own job of casting votes, making laws, and ensuring that these laws are constitutional and beneficial to it’s citizens; as stated by Rousseau: “The conjuring tricks of our political theorists are very like that; they first dismember the Body politic by an illusion worthy of a fair, and then join it together again we know not how”. He points out that Montesquieu’s ideas are just an illusion that lures people into thinking that the branches are separated but is actually branches separated as one whole system; despite Rousseau’s accuracy and attempt to denigrate Montesquieu’s theory, this manipulative system didn’t cause corruptions, oppress

    Read More

  • Alexis deTocqueville

    2499 Words  | 5 Pages

    “almost certainly it was Rousseau who taught Tocqueville to see the root of love of equality in human nature and to see its centrality for political life. My whole interpretation, then, might be summed up by saying that Tocqueville attempts to rewrite Montesquieu’s political science by way of an extension of Rousseau’s reinterpretation of human nature.”

    Read More

  • The Persian Letters by Montesquieu

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of Montesquieu's key arguments throughout the novel when dealing with religion is that God's precepts are more important then anything else. He says 'for, whatever religion one may have, obedience to the laws, love of mankind, and respect for one's parents are always the principal acts of religion'; and no matter what your religion is, you should acknowledge 'God loves mankind, since he founded a religion to make them happy; … and you are certain to please him by loving them also; that is to say performing all the duties of charity and humanity towards them, and in not violating the laws under which they live'; (101).

    Read More

  • Constitutional Republic

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Between 1787 and 1791 the Framers of the US Constitution established a system of government upon principles that had been discussed and partially implemented in many countries over the course of several centuries, but never before in such a pure and complete design, which we call a constitutional republic. Since then, the design has often been imitated, but important principles have often been ignored in those imitations, with the result that their governments fall short of being true republics or truly constitutional. The Framers of the Constitution tried very hard to design a system that would not allow any one person or group within the government to gain too much power. Personally, I think they succeeded. In order to guard against what one of the Founding Fathers called an "excess of democracy," the Constitution was built with many ways to limit the government's power. Among these methods were separating the three branches, splitting the legislature so laws are carefully considered, and requiring members of Congress to meet certain criteria to qualify for office. The Founders did leave a few problems along with their system.

    Read More

  • absolutism

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, I believe from reading and researching all of these men and their ideas, an absolutist monarchy is not a government that should be used today. An absolutist monarchy is not a legitimate government. I, as Montesquieu, believe there should be checks and balances within a government. After reading about King James I and King Charles I, they sound like a bunch of pompous men. I’m not sure how one gets the idea in their head that they indeed have a “divine right” and should be placed in the same category as God.

    Read More

  • Voltaire's Affect on Modern Western Society

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it,” were the famous words of Francois Marie Arouet, more commonly known under the pen name of Voltaire. He was known for being very outspoken and rebellious, which got him into trouble with the authorities for most of his life. Voltaire advocated the French bourgeoisie as being ineffective, the aristocracy as being corrupt, and the commoners as being too superstitious. Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom and reason are what ultimately led to the French Revolution, the United States Bill of Rights, and the decrease in the power of the Catholic Church, which have all affected modern western society. The French Revolution was a period of upheaval in France, during which the French governmental structure and Catholic clergy underwent a large change due to Enlightenment ideas.

    Read More

More about Montesquieu's Contributions to the Enlightenment

Open Document