Montesquieu Research Paper

From the eyes of a man, society is a flavorless image, however, from the eyes of a philosopher, he or she sees the flaws, beauty, brilliance, and prosperity in our society. As for Montesquieu, a French lawyer, philosopher, writer and government official, it was no different, stating “Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.” Throughout Montesquieu’s time as a philosopher, he saw society filled with issues and flaws that were needed to be addressed immediately, for the sake of the people, their nation, and society. As a result, Montesquieu had embarked on a journey of voicing his beliefs and ideology in regards to the various fields he had studied such as politics and economics. And surprisingly enough, Montesquieu had influenced
his disciples, the people of his time, and even our Founding Fathers with the idea he had voiced out loud. With that said, Montesquieu had ultimately impacted and influenced the Enlightenment Period for others to continue his goal and investigate the life and ideology of Montesquieu. Originally known as Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brede and de Montesquieu, was born on the eighteenth of January, 1689 in La Brede, France to a wealthy family who had connections to the barony.
For that reason, Montesquieu was able to obtain an elite education at Oratorian College de Juilly to pursue a study in literature, sciences, and classical education. Afterwards, Montesquieu had attended the University of Bordeaux to study law after his success at Oratorian College de Juilly; unfortunately, due to the tragic loss of his father after his studies at the University of Bordeaux, Montesquieu then decided to return to his father’s deathbed in honor of his death. In contrast, along this point in time, Montesquieu was appointed to become a counselor to the Bordeaux parliament; and from this point forward, Montesquieu’s luck had begun to take a change for the better cause. In 1715, Montesquieu had married a woman by the name of Jeanne de Lartigue who had possessed a large dowry, and in 1716, his uncle had passed away; thus, awarding Montesquieu an innumerable amount of properties and the title as the “Baron de La Brede and de Montesquieu.” Afterward, with his new properties, wealth, and position, Montesquieu was then promoted to Deputy President of the Bordeaux Parliament; thus, gifting Montesquieu plenty of time to pursue his own interest such as roman law, social science, biology, geography, and physics. With that said, the brilliance of Montesquieu had begun to
develop and showcase throughout his best works as a philosopher, such as: “Persian Letters” in 1721 and “The Spirit of Laws” in 1748.
Moving onto a different subject, throughout the works of Montesquieu, he had intended for his works to convey his message or beliefs to the public, so they as well will know what is truly happening in the world they live in. For instance, with the publication of the “Persian Letters,” Montesquieu had conveyed his beliefs of how the government should be run and the idea that the government should have a separation of powers (legislative, judicial, and executive) run by a system of checks and balances; interestingly enough, these very ideas of Montesquieu had influenced our Founding Father when creating our U.S. Constitution, and a system of government we see every day. Moving onto a different point, Montesquieu had also held the notion that the system of government depends on the conditions of the country; to clarify, he believed that a country should either be a Republic, Monarchy, or Despotic depending on the conditions such as their population density, climate, and wealth. For example, Montesquieu had stated that a Republican government would be ideal for a country with a small population density, where the climate is
moderate and is relatively poor because the management of the government would be far easier due to the citizens low income demolishing their temptation to seek self-interest in the government. Next, he believed that a Monarchical government would be ideal for a country with a larger population density than a republic, with favorable climate and with more wealth than a Republican because the king’s interest will be portrayed similarly to the interest of their country. And lastly, he believed that Despotic government would be ideal for a country with a huge population density because the population density would increase the difficulty for the forces and king to enforce their laws, thus, the only effective law would be intimidation. Transitioning to the next point, in a similar fashion, Montesquieu had also dabbled and influenced the idea of commerce to increase economic values for the country; or how he viewed the scenario, that commerce benefits all countries except those who have nothing but their land and what it produces. In other words, Montesquieu saw commerce as an action that cannot be handled by any sort of government or monarch, once quoting, “Commerce is sometimes destroyed by conquerors, sometimes cramped by monarchs; it transverses the earth, flies from the places where it is oppressed, and stays where it has the liberty to breathe.” To summarize, the beliefs and ideology of Montesquieu had significantly impacted the Enlightenment Period, gifting the people of his time and us a better image of a society that can be operated with a small number of mistakes. Throughout the life of Montesquieu, he overcame many ups and downs, ranging from the success of his two best-known books to the tragic loss of his father in 1714. Montesquieu in the end, became known as one of the most influential philosophers of his era, impacting the fields he deeply enjoyed and concerned for. And till this day, the legacy of Montesquieu lives within our nation’s papers and the minds of his followers; however, Montesquieu had passed away on February 10, 1755, after a hard-fought battle with a deadly fever. In conclusion, Montesquieu had lived 66 years filled with excitement, brilliance, and prosperity that has helped pave a better understanding of our society and a new path to a brighter future.