...Montesquieu: Political Philosopher and His Views and Thoughts Montesquieu: Political Philosopher and His Views and Thoughts MONTESQUIEU Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was born on January 19th, 1689 at La Brède, near Bordeaux, to a noble and prosperous family. He was educated at the Oratorian Collège de Juilly, received a law degree from the University of Bordeaux in 1708, and went to Paris to continue his legal studies. On the death of his father in 1713 he returned to La Brède to manage the estates he inherited, and in 1715 he married Jeanne de Lartigue, a practicing Protestant, with whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1716 he inherited from his uncle the title Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu and the office of Président à Mortier in the Parlement of Bordeaux. For the next eleven years he presided over the Tournelle, the Parlement's criminal division, in which capacity he heard legal proceedings, supervised prisons, and administered various punishments including torture. (Shklar, 1987) In 1721 Montesquieu published the Persian Letters, which was highly successful and made Montesquieu known by literary scholars. During this period he wrote several minor works: Dialogue de Sylla et d'Eucrate (1724), Réflexions sur la Monarchie Universelle (1724), and Le Temple de Gnide (1725). After visiting Italy, Germany, Austria, and other countries, he went to England, where he lived for two years. He was greatly impressed with the English political...
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...Montesquieu and Rousseau Enlightenment Impact During the 18th century The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason where there were numerous amounts of European philosophers who contributed to the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment period was considered a movement which advocated rationality as a means to establish an authoritative system of ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge. Though having different backgrounds, one a nobleman, the other a commoner, both Baron de Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were two of the philosophers during the Enlightenment period. Even though having different backgrounds, they shared the urge to apply science to social reform. With treating the government conditionally, it was criterion to decide the type of government that should be established. Born in Bordeaux, France, Charles-Louis de Secondat, a nobleman, a judge in the French Court and one of the most influential thinkers came from a very wealthy family. Soon after going to college, studying science and history and eventually becoming a lawyer, his father and uncle died so Montesquieu inherited the family fortune. After writing Persian Letters in 1721, by criticizing liberty and lifestyle of wealthy French, and even included the church, he also Howard 2 wrote, On the Spirit of Laws. This was published in 1748, which was his famous work. Earning the nickname, “Father of Modern Anthropology”, Montesquieu was the first of the enlightenment philosophers to prescribe both universal...
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...Baron de Montesquieu Baron de Montesquieu was born Charles Louis de secondat at La Brède, near Bordeaux, France on January 19, 1689 to a wealthy family. His father was a soldier and his mother died when he was seven years old. At the age of eleven he was sent to Oratorian Collège de Juilly, at Meaux. In 1716 he inherited from his uncle the title Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu and the office of President à Mortier in the Parliament of Bordeaux, which was at the time chiefly a judicial and administrative body. In his five years in Paris he developed an intense dislike for the style of life in the capital (rich and/ or of the church), later expressed in his Persian Letters, which brought him approval of the public and displeasure of the governor. . In 1725 he sold his life interest in his office and resigned from the Parliament. In 1728 he was elected to the Académie Française, despite some religious opposition, and shortly thereafter left France to travel abroad. After visiting Italy, Germany, Austria, and other countries, he went to England, where he lived for two years. He was greatly impressed with the English political system, and drew on his observations of it in his later work. He died in Paris in 1755 of a fever. Types of government He believed that there were three types of government: the republican, which can take a democratic or aristocratic form; the monarchical; and despotic government. In a democratic government the people are the sovereign, and may govern...
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...ideas in Europe in the 18th century. One of the Prominent topics included in the Enlightenment phase was the concept of Separation of Power. The ideal created by Baron de Montesquieu, the concept was based on three separate branches: executive, judicial, and legislative, along with the concept of keeping them separate to form a more balanced government. With this concept, many different documents have been created supporting this ideal. Such as the U.S. Constitution, The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of The Citizen. One of the highlighted ideals that were created during the Enlightenment period was Separation of Power. This was the concept of the three branches of government being separated and to be able to perform checks and balances. Congress makes the laws, but the President can “veto” or reject them and the Supreme Court can declare them unconstitutional. Thus, each branch is separate and serves a different purpose within the government as a whole. Baron de Montesquieu is the main creator of this idea. Baron de...
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...Tyranny and American Democracy Oppression is something dreaded by everyone. This universal fear was a much larger problem in the 1800’s than it is today. Tyranny was a fear that the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, and Alexis de Tocqueville had in common. The Federalists feared tyranny of the majority, or faction while the Anti-Federalists feared tyranny of the aristocracy. Tocqueville feared “soft despotism” but supported tyranny of the patriarchy. While the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists were the visionaries for America who tried to prevent different tyrannies, Tocqueville discusses the hypocrisies in America that the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were against. The Federalists strongly believed that the newly founded republic needed a large, centralized government in order to discourage tyranny of the majority. Hamilton voices this opinion when he says “a firm Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection.” (Hamilton, 66, Federalist No. 9) This is because a large, centralized government uses the system of the checks and balances, which prevent domestic faction and revolt. The Federalists made it clear that they opposed a mob ruling and the minorities being denied their rights. The main danger the new republic faced, they argued, was the superior force of an “interested and overbearing majority.” (Madison, 72, No. 10) The Federalists solution on how to deal with majority faction...
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...rejected traditional social and religious ideas and emphasized on man’s ability to reason. Also, various philosophers of that time period contributed to forming the foundation of the American Revolution. Influenced by the philosophical ideas of Montesquieu (1689-1755), the American Revolution came into fruition and became not only a war of freedom from British rule but also a war that capitalized on political theories such as liberty and equality. In liberty, Montesquieu introduces his concept of individual rights. Lastly, in equality, Montesquieu introduces his idea of separation of powers in government. Before one can comprehend the theories of Montesquieu, one must first understand the philosopher Montesquieu. Montesquieu, a French philosopher, highly believed in a liberal government and had a high interest in law. Born from an aristocratic family, Montesquieu attended the University of Bordeaux and obtained a law degree. After his uncle’s death, Montesquieu became the Président à Mortier in the Parliament of Bordeaux. The position mainly dealt with judicial and administrative matters. Because this was a high administrative position, Montesquieu was more involved with the schematics of government. This is perhaps where Montesquieu drawn one of his major political theories: equality. The quote “constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it ...” (Munro 48) depicts Montesquieu’s belief of equality in government. In other words, he believed...
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...citizen of the United States when it is referred to Freedom, and Justice. Ironically when people refer to this and therefore the whole constitution they are directly referring to one of the greatest minds in history: Charles Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu. He is not only one of the real founders of the American Constitution, but he is the start on revolutionary ideas in means on anthropology, politics and economical revolutions; he is the founder of society comfort, he is the inspiration for the French Revolution with his ideas of Justice, Freedom and Equality. Still his name has almost disappeared in the modern world. Charles Louis de Secondat was born on January 18, 1689, at the castle of La Brède near Bordeaux in France. His father Jacques de Secondat was a soldier with a long noble ancestry, and his mother, Marie Françoise de Pesnel, was an heiress who eventually brought the barony of La Brède to the Secondat family, unfortunately she died when Charles was still a kid. In 1705 he returned to Bordeaux to study laws, and in 1708 he moved to Paris where he developed a real disgust to the city. In 1715 he married Jeanne de Lartigue, a Protestant, who brought him a large dowry. In 1716 he inherited his Uncle Baron de Montesquieu office of Président à Mortier in the Parlement of Bordeaux,...
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...Revolution had some important people in it, like John Locke, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire. Locke believed in contract between government and governed. Montesquieu believed in the check and balances. Rousseau believed in individual freedom and civilization corrupts. Voltaire believed in freedom of thought and expression. In 1688 the glorious/bloodless Revolution in England removes James the 3rd. William and Mary take over and that means no more catholic kings or queens and no more absolute monarchy. The French Revolution had some enlightenment thinkers which were Thomas Hobbes...
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...Putting Cruelty First Author(s): Judith N. Shklar Reviewed work(s): Source: Daedalus, Vol. 111, No. 3, Representations and Realities (Summer, 1982), pp. 17-27 Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024800 . Accessed: 20/08/2012 16:09 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . The MIT Press and American Academy of Arts & Sciences are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Daedalus. http://www.jstor.org JUDITH N. SHKLAR Putting Cruelty First friend said to me, with deeply religious Roman Catholic must you liberals bring everything down to cruelty?" irritation, "Why What could he have meant? He was, and is, the most gentle and kindly of men, and a principled defender of political freedom and social reform. As a Christian, as a dreadful vice. He was not he obviously defending cruelty regarded cruelty or abandoning liberal politics; rather, he was explicitly rejecting the mentality abhor brutality...
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...Hamilton and Madison are better because their idea of a republic is much of a tangible idea than Montesquieu’s idea of a republic, especially for the United States government. Even though Montesquieu gives us the ideas of Separation of Powers and Check and Balances not all his ideas are right. Montesquieu believed republics could only exist in a small size not a large scale like the United States. If the nation did what Montesquieu said then the states would have to be split into small republics which would not help anyone because this would cause a lot of confusion and fighting in the country. With the Articles of Confederation, each state is pretty much their own republic as is and with the Articles of Confederation we have obviously seen that system does not work. But instead, the United States government need one large republic like Hamilton proposed. Like what Hamilton wrote he compared the nation and the states as an orbit of planets around the sun. The states being the planets revolve around the sun and are they do their own thing but they...
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...with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, while our Constitution encourages a “separation of powers” that keeps the governing bodies from assuming total control over the governed. Some of these ideas are also highlighted in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which was written as a means to convince the citizens of the colonies to secede from the oppressive Great Britain. While we take great pride in the fact that the likes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason employed these ideas in the forging of the United States, these ideas were not their own. In fact, they were utilized by men that existed long before the founding fathers were born. Men like John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau held these beliefs and articulated them in many of their works, which the founders would use centuries later as references in the drafting of our founding documents. So, it’s only fair that we take an in-depth look at how these three men influenced the founders of our great country. When John Locke wrote the Second Treatise of Civil Government, a movement called the Exclusion Crisis introduced the Exclusion Bill, a document that aimed to prevent James II of England from ascending to the throne through hereditary means. It is believed that Locke wrote his treatise to support the bill, so it can be said that Locke’s belief in leaders “by the consent and...
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...These three enlightenment thinkers were some of the most important influences of the Founding Fathers and their thinking. John Locke influenced the Declaration of Independence, Montesquieu influenced the U.S. Constitution, and Thomas Hobbes influenced both. They influenced the Founding Fathers’ creation of our American Government. John Locke was a very popular Enlightenment thinker. He said that people form government to protect their natural rights. Natural rights are rights that everyone should have. These natural rights include life, liberty, and the right to own property. "According to Locke, people have the right to revolt against it if it has ceased to uphold it's end of the bargain." (classroom.synonym.com) This is what John Locke thought...
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...Notably Montesquieu's thinking on government types shows the guidelines in which a national government could evolve from a republic to a monarchy or despotism: “Republican government is that in which the people as a body, or only a part of the people, have sovereign power; monarchical government is that in which one alone governs, but by fixed and established law; wheres, in a despotic government, one alone, without law and without rule, draws everything along by his will and his caprices”(Montesquieu, 23). The Anti-Federalists felt the dissolution of strong states’ rights in favor of a strong national government would lead to a British-like tyranny that would infringe on the liberty and rights of the people. One example of how the Articles of Confederation protected the people was the absence of executive and judicial branches, which gave the legislative branch under the Articles of Confederation sole power. To demonstrate this example the legislative branch was controlled by the people, and by giving the legislative branch full power, in effect this idea kept with traditional republican theory of rule by the people. The purpose of the Federalist papers was to promote the view that a strong national government was needed to unify...
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...people, even in this state of nature, were born with certain inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and property. Montesquieu believed that in the state of nature people were so fearful of one another that they avoided fighting. Only by needing food do they come into contact with one another and create a society. When they come together they loose their sense of equality and war breaks out. Rousseau’s idea of a state of nature was drastically different than those above because he believed that a state of nature was peaceful. People were not afraid or fighting but instead they lived peacefully side by side. Only when people began to claim property rights did wars come into existence. Rousseau also diverges from Hobbes,Locke, and Montesquieu on a crucial point, saying that people emerged from the state of nature not under and agreed social contract, accepting a ruler unanimously, but instead they came under a ruler because they were tricked but the wealthy. How does Rousseau's view of equality compare...? Hobbes thought that the people were born equal but that their equality was still lesser than that of the king who they gave all their rights to once they agreed to the social contract. Locke thought that people were born equal just like Hobbes but said that they lost this equality once they joined society and started facing social stratification. Montesquieu thought that we were all equal in society and...
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...The rights that are given to the American people are given because of the English Bill of Rights. John Locke and Montesquieu were the greatest influential thinkers, Locke contributed to the type of government that America uses today. Montesquieu came up with the idea to create a separation of powers which is what America calls congress. The separation of powers helps the president in line, Montesquieu’s idea came from James II and the other rulers that didn’t ask for help from parliament. New ideas about money and finances were reintroduced such as a free enterprise system and a free market. Both of these ideas were from the thinker Adam Smith who admired the physiocrats. The cabinet system was also adapted from parliament. The cabinet system is a group of advisors for the monarch, the United States has always had a...
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