AP+2015-16+Montesquieu

** by Iliana May, Nicolina Nguyen, Andi O'Bert and Sarah Carruth **
 * The Stranger Background Terms: Montesquieu **


 * Aim (Iliana May): **



One of the most influential political philosophers of the Enlightenment, Montesquieu and his famous works targeted to explain how despotism is a standing danger for any government. In his compositions, he elaborated how governments might be preserved from corruption. The Constitutional Rights Foundation details, “Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty and the property of the individual… [he] concluded that the best form of government was one in which the legislative, executive, and judicial powers were separate and kept each other in check.” Montesquieu’s beliefs on the role of a national government contradicts the exercising of absolute power, and ensuring the protection of its citizens’ natural rights and liberties. The separation of powers, he details, aid a government in securing and exercising its own rights with validity. In sharing his political philosophies, the Enlightenment thinker provided a basis for his perception of a balanced government, developing the idea of democracy. In his most renowned works, Montesquieu analyzed the exercise of power within a government; by doing so, he expanded the political realm during an age of intelligence and observation. Although Montesquieu’s theory of separation of powers did not properly describe the governments of England or France, the United States of America would later adopt it as the foundation to its constitution. In describing how the abuse of power affects the stability of a national government, Montesquieu paved the way for democratic understanding.


 * Audience (Nicolina Nguyen): **



One of the major works of Montesquieu is //The Spirit of the Laws//, where he aimed to inform the people within government the purpose of law. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Montesquieu believes that “ the key to understanding different laws and social systems is to recognize that they should be adapted to a variety of different factors, and cannot be properly understood unless one considers them in this light” (Bok). Montesquieu discusses how vital it is to a society and government to understand the reasoning behind the law. Without this understanding, Montesquieu claims that people within the government would take “misguided attempts at reform”. Montesquieu focuses on informing the people within society the importance of the rules and laws placed within a society. Without the understanding behind the law, the law does not function. When the people do not understand the ways of the law, the people may aim at reform, and in turn only weaken it. However, the understanding of the law can also aid in proper reform. With this knowledge about the law, the people within society can find the balance between what needs reform and what does not.


 * Historical (Andi O'Bert): **



Charles-Louis de Secondat, formally known as Baron de Montesquieu, was born in France in 1689. Baron de Montesquieu is well-known for his political ideology and his book, //On the Spirit of Laws//. This essay analyzed the differences and the effects of different forms of government. Montesquieu stated, “Liberty is the right to do what the law permits”. This statement that governments are best formed under a strict set of laws that allow the people to have freedom within their own right. Montesquieu believed that the ideal government is formed under the balance of the Crown, the Parliament and the law courts. In America, this translates to the President, Congress and the Supreme Court. This theory has been used all over the world and has major historical impacts on many nations including the United States. Montesquieu’s theory on the separation of powers has shaped American politics and history for the last two hundred and fifty years, and is one of the most important features of the American government and its success. Montesquieu’s ideology, even outside his theory of separation of powers, have affected nations around the world for centuries, making huge historical waves in government and politics.

For the majority of his adult life, Baron de Montesquieu had a deep interest in the inner workings of Parliament. Montesquieu believed that Parliament should be representative of the people, so he spent his life working on ways to improve Parliament in order to achieve this goal. One of Montesquieu's most influential ideologies was, “Montesquieu claimed that a liberal constitutional monarch was the best system of government for a people who prized freedom, on the grounds that by dividing the sovereignty of the nation between several centers of power, it provided a permanent check on any one of them becoming despotic. Montesquieu suggested that the English had achieved this by sharing sovereignty between the Crown, Parliament, and the law courts” (Cranston). While Parliament did not take Montesquieu’s suggestions to heart, the Framers of the United States Constitution did. The Framers believed that providing the government which included the separation of powers would give the citizens more of a say in the federal government. Montesquieu was so fascinated by Parliament, and the participation of each individual citizen in Parliamentary procedures. He strived to create a system in which anybody and everybody could participate and feel as if they had a genuine affect in the national government. Without Montesquieu’s idea of separation of powers, the United States government would not function as a representative government in which each citizen has a say in what they desire from their government.
 * Cultural (Sarah Carruth): **


 * Works Cited: **

Bok, Hilary. "Baron De Montesquieu." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., 18 July 2003. Web. 7 Nov. 2015.

"Developments in Democracy." Constitutional Rights Foundation: Bill of Rights in Action 20:2 (2004). Web. 7 Nov. 2015.

Cranston, Maurice. "The French Revolution: Ideas and Ideologies." The French Revolution: Ideas and Ideologies. History Today, 5 May 1989. Web. 7 Nov. 2015.

Montesquieu, Charles De Secondat. On the Spirit of the Laws. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1955. Print.