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John Locke Vs Montesquieu Essay

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The age of enlightenment was a revolutionary experience for us all. Starting in the late 1600 's by philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the enlightenment period helped construct a structured authoritative system. Behind it all were men known as the enlightenment thinkers. John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu are two of the more famously know enlightened thinkers. The two philosophers had both similarities and differences, when it came to the construction of our government today, but through the many differences, they both had the same key idea. They both felt that we needed a structured government. As said by Thomas Hobbes "life without government would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

John Locke was born in 1632, in England. He began …show more content…

In contrast to John Locke 's successes , Baron de Montesquieu also had an impact on our government. Originally named Charles Louis de Secondat, Montesquieu was born in Bordeaux France in 1689. Montesquieu did a lot of thinking about how a government was to be created and then maintained. The term liberty to him meant "a peace of mind that comes from being safe", with this in mind he came to believe that safety could only exist if laws were followed. If the government was able to to enforce laws,that could be easily followed, then that would increase "liberty" and improve our world. Montesquieu later grew very fond of english government, which was made up of three different parts. There was a kind to enforce laws, a parliament to create them, and courts to clarify them. Because the government was divided into parts each part had a different job, Montesquieu called this separation of powers. He thought that if each branch had its own power, then there needed to be some kind of balance between them. This then worried him that if one branch would have more power than the others, that the people would lose their liberty and suffer. To avoid such a scenario, he made each branch have the power to to limit the ability of the other branches. Today day this system is call checks and balances and separates the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Baron de Montesquieu made the government "separate but

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(Montesquieu, Book XI, Ch.4). Charles’ ideas inspired the French to create the Declaration of the Rights of Man and to make a better government after overthrowing the monarchy. Montesquieu also influenced the American Revolution in a massive way. He warned, “Were the executive power not to have a right or restraining the encroachments of the legislative body, the latter would become despotic; for as it might arrogate to itself what authority it pleased, it would soon destroy all the other powers.” The Founding Fathers took his advice on the separation of powers when drafting the Constitution.

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Specifically, Locke’s ideas from his Two Treatises of Government heavily influenced Thomas Jefferson’s rationale for the propriety of America’s separation from England by expressing a great deal in the right to change the government, human rights trust and strong legislative.

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Locke had a more positive perspective. He trusted individuals could gain from encounters. What did Montesquieu appreciate about the legislature of Britain?

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John Locke believed this as well, that the citizens should be able to change the government if needed. However, this also showed what Thomas Jefferson was going through. He was not only founding a government, but he was rebelling against one. He disliked the idea of monarchy, and giving total control to the government. This further shows that John Locke had an influence on Pres.

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Background Information on the Enlightenment: In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution.

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Consequently, a limited government was created in response to these new thoughts. Furthermore, this new type of government was extremely revolutionary because it changed the way that the citizens had thought or viewed about the government. Two Enlightenment philosophers that influenced the creation of the government were John Locke and Montesquieu. John Locke had the belief that everyone had natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that if the government failed to protect these rights, they could be overthrown and replaced. Also, Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers helped shape the government.

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Locke ideas came before the American Revolution and were the foundation for the U.S Constitution and partly reasons for the revolution. Though these men were not able to live through or the start of their notions, the people took a hold of them impacting government systems. Niccolo Machiavelli was an

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Montesquieu was born at the time France was being ruled by Louis XIV, the monarch who came up with the phrase, “I am the state”. All the powers of the State vested in one person. Montesquieu visited England in 1726 and he was greatly influenced by the freedom spirit that was prevalent in England. He observed the freedom enjoyed by the people in England and came to the conclusion that this freedom being enjoyed by the people was only possible because the powers of all three organs of the State was vested in different people and all the organs were free from the control of the other. He was also intrigued by the power of the British Parliament and the freedom exercised by the judiciary.

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The separation of powers has been theoritically made by Locke and Montesquieu. The text 10 AV Dicey, Introduction to the study of the Law of the Constitution (10th edn, Elibron Classics, USA, 2000) pp 39-40 11 Lord Steyn, Democracy, the rule of law and the role of judges [2006] De l’esprit des lois12 (translated in The spririt of laws) in which Montesquieu details his vision, theorizes the separation of powers from an historic example. This separation did not occur spontaneously, but very progressively. Unlikely to the image that we traditionally have, this separation of powers shows subtilities, incoherences that cast doubt on the idea of separation of powers. It used to be the King, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

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Montesquieu was a french philosopher who believed that the best way to preserve liberty was to separate power within government. He believed that government should be separated into three different branches; Legislative, executive, and judicial (Aguilera, “Enlightened Thinkers Lecture”). This systems of checks and balances is similar to the system within the united states. Montesquieu was firmly against any one small group having too much power. Toussaint’s decision completely went against these ideals which showcases how he was not thinking in enlightened terms when decided the governing fate of

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John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu were political philosophers that debated the question of who was best fit to control the government. Locke and Montesquieu shared similar political beliefs such as natural rights and the separation of government powers. However, both philosophers did, in fact, have their personal views that helped them accomplish important achievements. John Locke published “Two Treatises of Government” and “ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” which present a detail philosophy of the mind and thought. Locke’s “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” lays out his philosophical project.

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