Why Did Montesquieu Advocate The Separation Of Powers

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Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and also Rousseau on Federal Government

Beginning in the 1600s, European theorists started discussing the inquiry of that must regulate a country. As the outright policy of kings deteriorated, Knowledge theorists said for various kinds of freedom.Reading: Why did montesquieu advocate the separation of powersIn 1649, a civil battle burst out over that would certainly rule England—Parliament or King Charles I. The battle finished with the beheading of the king. Quickly after Charles was implemented, an English theorist, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), created Leviathan, a protection of the outright power of kings. The title of the publication described a leviathan, a mythical, whale-like sea beast that feasted on entire ships. Hobbes compared the leviathan to federal government, an effective state developed to enforce order.Hobbes started Leviathan by defining the “state of nature” where all people were normally equivalent. Everyone was totally free to do what she or he required to do to endure. Consequently, everybody experienced “continued fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man [was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”In the state of nature, there were no legislations or any person to impose them. The only escape of this scenario, Hobbes claimed, was for people to develop some ultimate power to enforce tranquility on everybody.Hobbes obtained an idea from English agreement legislation: a suggested contract. Hobbes insisted that the individuals concurred amongst themselves to “lay down” their all-natural legal rights of equal rights and also liberty and also provide outright power to a sovereign. The sovereign, developed by the individuals, could be an individual or a team. The sovereign would certainly make and also impose the legislations to protect a relaxed culture, making life, freedom, and also residential or commercial property feasible. Hobbes called this contract the “social contract.”Hobbes thought that a federal government headed by a king was the ideal type that the sovereign can take. Putting all power in the hands of a king would certainly suggest extra tenacious and also constant workout of political authority, Hobbes said. Hobbes likewise kept that the social agreement was an arrangement just amongst the individuals and also not in between them and also their king. As Soon As the individuals had actually offered outright power to the king, they had no right to rebellion versus him.Hobbes cautioned versus the church horning in the king’s federal government. He was afraid faith can end up being a resource of civil battle. Therefore, he recommended that the church end up being a division of the king’s federal government, which would very closely regulate all spiritual events. In any kind of dispute in between magnificent and also imperial legislation, Hobbes created, the person must comply with the king or select fatality.Yet the days of outright kings were phoned number. A brand-new age with fresh suggestions was arising—the European Knowledge.Knowledge thinkers wished to enhance human problems in the world as opposed to worry themselves with faith and also the immortality. These thinkers valued factor, scientific research, spiritual resistance, and also what they called “natural rights”—life, freedom, and also residential or commercial property.Knowledge theorists John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and also Jean-Jacques Rousseau all established concepts of federal government in which some or perhaps all the individuals would certainly regulate. These thinkers had an extensive impact on the American and also Reign of terrors and also the autonomous federal governments that they created.

Locke: The Unwilling Democrat

John Locke (1632-1704) was birthed quickly prior to the English Civil Battle. Locke researched scientific research and also medication at Oxford College and also ended up being a teacher there. He agreed the Protestant Parliament versus the Roman Catholic King James II in the Marvelous Transformation of 1685. This occasion lowered the power of the king and also made Parliament the significant authority in English federal government.In 1690, Locke released his 2 Writings of Federal Government. He usually concurred with Hobbes regarding the cruelty of the state of nature, which needed a social agreement to ensure tranquility. Yet he differed with Hobbes on 2 significant factors.First, Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals. These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender). Locke also differed with Hobbes about the social contract. For him, it was not just an agreement among the people, but between them and the sovereign (preferably a king).According to Locke, the natural rights of individuals limited the power of the king. The king did not hold absolute power, as Hobbes had said, but acted only to enforce and protect the natural rights of the people. If a sovereign violated these rights, the social contract was broken, and the people had the right to revolt and establish a new government. Less than 100 years after Locke wrote his Two Treatises of Government, Thomas Jefferson used his theory in writing the Declaration of Independence.Although Locke spoke out for freedom of thought, speech, and religion, he believed property to be the most important natural right. He declared that owners may do whatever they want with their property as long as they do not invade the rights of others. Government, he said, was mainly necessary to promote the “public good,” that is to protect property and encourage commerce and little else. “Govern lightly,” Locke said.Locke favored a representative government such as the English Parliament, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons. But he wanted representatives to be only men of property and business. Consequently, only adult male property owners should have the right to vote. Locke was reluctant to allow the propertyless masses of people to participate in government because he believed that they were unfit.The supreme authority of government, Locke said, should reside in the law-making legislature, like England’s Parliament. The executive (prime minister) and courts would be creations of the legislature and under its authority.

Montesquieu: The Balanced Democrat

When Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755) was born, France was ruled by an absolute king, Louis XIV. Montesquieu was born into a noble family and educated in the law. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, including England, where he studied the Parliament. In 1722, he wrote a book, ridiculing the reign of Louis XIV and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.Montesquieu published his greatest work, The Spirit of the Laws, in 1748. Unlike Hobbes and Locke, Montesquieu believed that in the state of nature individuals were so fearful that they avoided violence and war. The need for food, Montesquieu said, caused the timid humans to associate with others and seek to live in a society. “As soon as man enters into a state of society,” Montesquieu wrote, “he loses the sense of his weakness, equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.”Montesquieu did not describe a social contract as such. But he said that the state of war among individuals and nations led to human laws and government.Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty, and the property of the individual. Montesquieu opposed the absolute monarchy of his home country and favored the English system as the best model of government.Montesquieu somewhat misinterpreted how political power was actually exercised in England. When he wrote The Spirit of the Laws, power was concentrated pretty much in Parliament, the national legislature. Montesquieu thought he saw a separation and balancing of the powers of government in England.Montesquieu viewed the English king as exercising executive power balanced by the law-making Parliament, which was itself divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, each checking the other. Then, the executive and legislative branches were still further balanced by an independent court system.Montesquieu 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 to prevent any branch from becoming too powerful. He believed that uniting these powers, as in the monarchy of Louis XIV, would lead to despotism. While Montesquieu’s separation of powers theory did not accurately describe the government of England, Americans later adopted it as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.

Rousseau: The Extreme Democrat

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where all adult male citizens could vote for a representative government. Rousseau traveled in France and Italy, educating himself.In 1751, he won an essay contest. His fresh view that man was naturally good and was corrupted by society made him a celebrity in the French salons where artists, scientists, and writers gathered to discuss the latest ideas.A few years later he published another essay in which he described savages in a state of nature as free, equal, peaceful, and happy. When people began to claim ownership of property, Rousseau argued, inequality, murder, and war resulted.According to Rousseau, the powerful rich stole the land belonging to everyone and fooled the common people into accepting them as rulers. Rousseau concluded that the social contract was not a willing agreement, as Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu had believed, but a fraud against the people committed by the rich.In 1762, Rousseau published his most important work on political theory, The Social Contract. His opening line is still striking today: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Rousseau agreed with Locke that the individual should never be forced to give up his or her natural rights to a king.The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was to find a way to protect everyone’s life, liberty, and property while each person remained free. Rousseau’s solution was for people to enter into a social contract. They would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to “the whole community,” all the people. He called all the people the “sovereign,” a term used by Hobbes to mainly refer to a king. The people then exercised their “general will” to make laws for the “public good.”Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.In Rousseau’s democracy, anyone who disobeyed the general will of the people “will be forced to be free.” He believed that citizens must obey the laws or be forced to do so as long as they remained a resident of the state. This is a “civil state,” Rousseau says, where security, justice, liberty, and property are protected and enjoyed by all.All political power, according to Rousseau, must reside with the people, exercising their general will. There can be no separation of powers, as Montesquieu proposed. The people, meeting together, will deliberate individually on laws and then by majority vote find the general will. Rousseau’s general will was later embodied in the words “We the people . . .” at the beginning of the U.S. Constitution.Rousseau was rather vague on the mechanics of how his democracy would work. There would be a government of sorts, entrusted with administering the general will. But it would be composed of “mere officials” who got their orders from the people.Read more: Why did yennefer not kill cahirRousseau believed that religion divided and weakened the state. “It is impossible to live in peace with people you think are damned,” he said. He favored a “civil religion” that accepted God, but concentrated on the sacredness of the social contract.Rousseau realized that democracy as he envisioned it would be hard to maintain. He warned, “As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State, ‘What does it matter to me?’ the State may be given up for lost.”

For Discussion and Writing

1. Of the four philosophers discussed in this article, which 2 do you think differed the most? Why?2. Which of the democratic forms government proposed by Locke, Montesquieu, and also Rousseau do you think is the best? Why?3. Rousseau wrote in The Social Contract, “As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State ‘What does it matter to me?’ the State may be given up for lost.” What do you think he meant? How do you think his words relate to American democracy today?Read more: Why did dorfman leave monk

A C T I V I T Y

The Philosophers Take a Stand

1. Divide the class into four groups, each taking on the role of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, or Rousseau.2. The members of each of the role group will need to research why their philosopher would agree or disagree with the debate topics listed below. The article contains some clues, but students should find out more about their philosophers’ views by using the school library and Internet.3. After research has been completed, each role group will state its philosopher’s position on topic A. The groups should then debate the topic from the point of view of the philosopher they are role playing. Follow the same procedure for the rest of the topics.4. After all the debates are finished, class members should discuss which one of the four philosophers they agree with the most and why.Read more: Why did dorfman leave monk

Debate Topics

A. The best form of government is a representative democracy.B. Only the president should have the power to declare war.C. A good way to make laws is for all the people to directly vote on them.D. Religion should be a part of the government.E. The government should have the authority to confiscate a person’s residential or commercial property for the public good.

For Further Information

Hobbes

Encyclopedia articles: Wikipedia: Thomas HobbesWikipedia: LeviathanInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Thomas HobbesStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Hobbes’ Moral and also Political PhilosophyRead more: Why did dorfman leave monkMalaspina Great Books: Thomas HobbesLeviathan Text of the book.SparkNotes: Leviathan A study guide to the book.Read more: Why did dorfman leave monkLinks: Yahoo Directory: Thomas HobbesGoogle Directory: Thomas HobbesOpen Directory Project: Thomas HobbesRead more: Why did dorfman leave monk

Locke

Encyclopedia articles: Wikipedia: John LockeBluplete Biography: John LockeStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: John LockeRead more: Why Do Carp Jump? Interesting Facts | Top Q&AInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: John LockeWikipedia: 2 Writings of Federal GovernmentRead more: Why did dorfman leave monkSecond Treatise of Civil Federal government Text of the book.SparkNotes: Locke’s Second Treatise of Government Two Treatises of Government A study guide.Malaspina Great Books: John LockeRead more: Why did dorfman leave monkLinks: Yahoo Directory: John LockeGoogle Directory: John LockeOpen Directory Project: John LockeRead more: Why did dorfman leave monk

Rousseau

Encyclopedia articles: Wikipedia: Jean-Jacques RousseauInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Jean-Jacques RousseauThe Social Contract The text of the book.SparkNotes: Rousseau’s Social Contract A study guide to the book.Malaspina Great Books: Jean-Jacques RousseauLinks: Yahoo Directory: Jean-Jacques RousseauGoogle Directory: Jean-Jacques RousseauOpen Directory Project: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Montesquieu

Read more: Why did dorfman leave monkEncyclopedia articles: Wikipedia: MontesquieuStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: MontesquieuCatholic Encyclopedia: MontesquieuRead more: Why did dorfman leave monkThe Spirit of the Legislation The text of the publication.Malaspina Great Books: MontesquieuHyperlinks: Yahoo Directory Site: Baron de MontesquieuGoogle Directory Site: MontesquieuOpen Up Directory Site Task: MontesquieuRead more: Why did dorfman leave monk

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