Baron De Montesquieu

In 1689, Charles Louis de Secondat was born in Bordeaux, France. Although he was born into a wealthy family, Charles was placed in the care of a poor family during his childhood. Later, he went on to college and studied science and history, and eventually he became a lawyer in the local government. In 1713, Charles’s father died, and Charles was placed under the care of his uncle, Baron de Montesquieu. Shortly afterwards, the Baron died in 1716 leaving Charles with his fortune, his office as president of the Bordeaux Parliament, and his title of Baron de Montesquieu. Later on, The newly appointed Baron became a member of the Bordeaux And French academies of Science and began to study the customs and governments of the countries in Europe. In 1721, Montesquieu gained fame with his Persian Letters, which criticized the life-style of the wealthy French and the church. However, On the spirit of the laws, which was published in 1748, was his most famous book. It characterized his ideas on how government would best work.

Montesquieu was very attentive about the relationship between religion and violence. He wrote, as stated in the Persian Letters, “I can assure you that no kingdom has ever had as many evils as the kingdom of Christ.” Another famous quote from the Persian Letters states, ” in order to love and conform to one’s religion it is necessary to hate and persecute those who do not conform to it.” In these examples Montesquieu didn’t argue for atheism, which is the belief that there is no god, but rather a peaceful and moral world that is tolerant of many different religions. However, despite Montesquieu’s religious tolerance, he didn’t believe that all people were equal. He approved of slavery and believed that women were weaker than men. At the same time, he believed that the gentler nature of women could make them valuable decision makers in government. he felt that their weak state didn’t allowed them to be above anybody else and that their gentleness and moderation would make for a good government instead of a harsh a ferocious one.

Montesquieu believed that there were three types of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and republicanism. Montesquieu opposed absolute monarchy and believed that a monarchy with limited powers makes countries more stable and secure. Montesquieu believed that the people’s role in government should be based on political virtue and equality. This means that citizens put public interests above their own. He felt that states should be kept small to make it easier for people to play a role in their government. He also believed that the success of a government depends on maintaining the right balance of power between different branches.

Montesquieu argued that the best government is one that balances power among three separate branches of government with equal but different powers. At the time, Montesquieu believed that England was the best model of what a government should look like because it was divided into three parts: the king, who enforced the laws; parliament, which created the laws; and a court system, which interpreted the laws. This idea of dividing the government into three parts was called the “separation of powers.” He strongly believed in this because he felt that if all of the political power is handed over to one branch then greed and corruption would be the end result of that government. To make sure that this inequality of power does not occur Montesquieu thought that each branch of government checks or limits the power of the other two. Montesquieu’s ideas became the basis of the United States Constitution.