Baron de Montesquieu
Andrea Ricca, Andi Wilkinson,
Brendan Lewis, and Dean Rago
Biography
• January 18th, 1989 in Bordeaux France
• Parents: Jacques de Secondat and Marie Fracoise
• Received his childhood education at College de
Juilly
• Returned to Bordeaux and studied law, by request
of uncle
• Married the wealthy Jeanne de Lartigue in 1715
• Had three kids
Biography (cont.)
• Used wife’s wealth to his advantage; traveled to Paris
frequently
• Uncle died in 1716, leaving him his fortune and estates
• Took time to study geology, biology, and physics at the
Academy of Bordeaux
• Published Lettres persanes (Persian Letters) in 1721 
satire on Parisian civilization; made him famous
• Began a long trip in 1728; documented trip and studied
worldly ideas and thoughts on religion, art, and politics
Biography (cont.)
• Decided to commit to literature when he returned to France
• Published Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romans
et de leur decadence (Reflections on the Causes of the Grandeur and
Declension of the Romans) in 1734
• Began to study law, history, economics, geography, and political
theory
• In 1750, he published The Spirit of Laws, his book on political
theory; he gained extreme fame from it
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1740: developed idea
1743: first draft written and began two revisions
1746: press prepared for the release
1750: published
• Died five years later on February 10th, 1755, in Bordeaux
Philosophical Ideas
The Spirit of Laws
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Montesquieu wrote the philosophical book, The Spirit of Laws, to explain
human laws and social institutions
The book explained how one person decided everything (despotism):
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Made laws
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Created war or peace
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Judged cases and determined fate of criminals
Despotism- one person entirely rules everything with absolute power
Montesquieu wanted to break the gov’t up into three branches
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Legislative- Congress: create laws
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Executive- President, VP: enforce laws
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Judicial- Court system: meaning of laws, how they are applied, and
whether they break the rules of the Constitution
Philosophical Ideas (cont.)
The Spirit of Laws
• Living under a non-despotic gov’t that left its citizens to
live mostly free should not have be meddled with
• Montesquieu’s fear was a monarchy transforming into
despotism (one person in power = fear)
– Montesquieu believed despotism is abhorrent &
unstable
– The transformation would have been caused by the
belief that if the nobility was weakening,
automatically more power given to the monarch
Philosophical Ideas (cont.)
The Spirit of Laws
• Montesquieu believed that the laws of multiple countries could have
been more liberal and more humane
– Religious persecution and slavery could have been abolished
– Business could have been encouraged
• These reforms would have generally empowered monarchial
governments, since they strengthened the freedom and dignity of
citizens
• Montesquieu believed the relations between laws plus conditions of
countries and principles of gov’t equaled better reforms without
disabling gov’ts that needed improving
Beliefs in Government
Best form of Government:
• Montesquieu believed that the best form of
government was one separated into branches.
• It was Montesquieu's philosophy that
"government should be set up so that no man
need be afraid of another" that prompted the
creators of the Constitution to divide the U.S.
government into three separate branches.
Beliefs in Government
Best form of Government:
• Montesquieu believed that the best form of
government was one separated into branches.
• It was Montesquieu's philosophy that
"government should be set up so that no man
need be afraid of another" that prompted the
creators of the Constitution to divide the U.S.
government into three separate branches.
Opinion
Three Branches of Government:
1. Colonists didn’t like the idea of a monarchy
controlling their lives
2. Montesquieu popularized the idea of a separated
government that didn’t have one person or a
small group of people in control
3. His idea was formally “Separation of Powers” and
inspired colonists to rid of England's power over
them
4. They wanted to remove the King as their one
ruler because he held far too much power