Charles Montetesquieu: The Great Ideas Of John Locke

John Locke was a philosopher who was a man of the people. His ideas came from active involvement in politics, and this resulted in him advocating for the preservation of personal freedom and private property. He believed in religious toleration and that the individual possessed rights independently of the sovereign. The sovereign must protect the rights of its people: life, liberty and property. (Locke 420). If it does not, then it was the right of the people to overthrow it and elect a new one that serves for the common good of the people. This is the social contract between people and the government that Locke speaks about. An individual cannot conduct foreign affairs and external issues alone, the government is responsible for educating

The point is to preserve peace and security otherwise everything will simply go back to war and greed. This conception is what causes to arise the great ideas of Charles Montesquieu. He answers the questions of many French Revolutionists in his Book 11 of The Spirit of the Laws. He stated: “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” (Montesquieu 156). He believed that the three bodies of law must be separate, and if they are not, the only thing that will come of it is corruption of the state and inevitable tyranny. (Montesquieu 157). These useless laws weaken the necessary laws that needed for a government to succeed for the people. This was issue of the government before the French Revolution that he points out. (Bourke 10). Montesquieu 's ideas continue to teach the people of France that the older generation are consumed by corruption and ruining the state. He states: “Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power. But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.” (Montesquieu 180) These corrupt absolutist ideas need to be changed and the tyranny has to stop because all it

However for him, total freedom cannot work and leads to anarchy. This is where he guides the French revolutionists to be cautious. Liberty is the right to do what the laws ask someone to do, and if a person is free to do what the laws forbid, then there is no liberty, it is just chaos and anarchy. This is what makes Montesquieu search for a solution where the King is restrained by Parliament, and where the executive and legislative bodies hold one another in check. (Harvey 473). Only then by liberty, Montesquieu regards it as the basis of a free society: the right to live their lives in peace and without fear of a tyrannic government. (Harvey 474). He believed that such freedom could only exist under a government that is limited and constrained by the people in a way that it cannot run tyrant and ruin the peace. A revolutionary democracy was what the French Revolution needed, and that is why the Enlightenment 's analysis of ancient systems of democratic government helped push this process forward. (Bourke 10). Montesquieu stated: ““The political liberty, of the subject, (separation of powers), is a tranquillity of mind arising from the opinion each person has of [their] safety. In order to have this liberty. It is requisite the government be so constituted as one [person] need not to be afraid of another.” (Montesquieu 180). He advocates for the French that no single person can have so much power