MONTESQUIEU

(1689-1755)

By: Cheryl A. Lavilla & Sophia Marie V. Ynion

I. Context/Background
 Henry IV- ruled France from 1589 until 1610.
He promulgated the Edict of Nantes of 1598 (provided toleration
for Protestants)
Henry strengthened the Central Government by increasing taxes,
curbed the power of the towns and nobility, overrode the authority
of the Estates, and launched a program of fiscal reform.
He was assassinated in 1610.
His son Louis XIII succeeded him at the age of nine (9).
Louis XIII mother Marie de Medici took power as regent with the
help of Admiral Richelieu..
The Reign of Louis XIV
 Richelieu died in 1642, and his “master”, Louis XIII, died the
following year.
Successor to the throne was his five-year-old son Louis XIV.
His mother Ann of Austria was appointed as Regent.
The real power during Louis’s minority was Mazarin, an able
Italian Cardinal trained by Richelieu.
Under Mazarin, the bourgeoisie and the nobility resented his fiscal
policy and opposed the government.
The result was the rebellion known as Fronde.
 The Reign of Louis XIV
• Kingof France from 1643-1715;
took control of government at 23
in 1661
• Known
as the “Sun King”
• Built
Palace of Versailles to show
the greatness of France
• Heexcluded nobles from the
council
• AppointsIntendants (government
agents)-to collect taxes and
administer justice.
• JeanBabtiste Colbert- Louis’s
Finance Minister – helps
economy grow through
Mercantilism.
• This system sought to build self-
sufficiency of the kingdom by:
I. Encouraging exports
II. Discouraging imports
III.Planting colonies
IV. Piling up a surplus store of
gold and silver
 The Reign of Louis XIV
• In 1685, Louis evoked the Edict of Nantes and began the program of brutal and
ruthless persecution of the Huguenots.
• As an absolute monarch, there was in fact no constitutionalism left in France.
• The theories of the Englishman, Newton and Locke became important in French
social and political theory.
• In France the doctrines of Locke were genuinely revolutionary because:
I. They were opposed to the long established absolutism
II. The French society itself was so different from that of England
III. The privileges and exemptions of the nobility and clergy were greater in France;
IV. There was less religious toleration;
V. The middle class was more restrained.
 CHARLES LOUIS DE
SECONDAT, BARON DE LA
BREDE ET DE
MONTESQUIEU
(1689-1755)
 II. Biographical Sketch
• Montesquieu was born at Chateau de La
Brede, near Bordeaux, on January 18, 1689.
• Marie Francoise de Penel was his mother, who
brought La Brede as her dowry.
• Jacques de Secondat was his father.
• The title Montesquieu came from Charles
uncle- Jean Baptiste de Secondat, Baron de
Montesquieu, President of the Parlement of
Bordeaux.
• At the age of eleven, Montesquieu attended
the Oratorian School of Juilly, near Meaux,
where he absorbed the customary classical
education.
 II. Biographical Sketch
• He studied Law at University of
Bodeaux.
• In 1715, he married Jeanne de
Latrique, a wealthy protestant.
• In 1716, his uncle died leaving him a
considerable wealth and position as
President of the Bordeaux Parlement.
• In 1721, he published the Lettres
Persanes, The Persian Letters. Which
was issued anonymously.
• In 1725, he was elected to the French
Academy, but the election was annulled
because he was not a resident of Paris.
• The next year, he sold his office in
the Parlement and moved to Paris.
• He was again elected in 1728 and
admitted to the Academy.
• Soon after, he began a tour in
Europe for educational purposes.
• He remained a year and a half in
England where he studied English
political institutions.
II. Biographical Sketch
• In 1734 he published his Considerations on the Greatness and
Decline of Rome.
• Considerations was one of the first significant attempts at a
philosophy of history.
• This book prepared the way for his much valuable and better
known work, The Spirit of the Laws.
• This book went through twenty-two editions and finally published in
1748.
• He died in February 10, 1755 at La Brede.
 III. Major Works
• The Persian Letters (1721)
-was about two Persians who wrote fictitious series
of letters to each other about their journey to Europe.
-a special form of social critique which criticized the
lifestyles and liberties of the wealthy French
• In this book he states that Virtue is self-rewarding, for
in doing good to others we serve our own interest.
• He was opposed in the institution and the corrupt
practices of the court.
• He also mentioned that the King was a great magician
and a greater one was called the Pope.
Montesquieu’s Famous Works
• The Spirit of Laws- 1748
• In this political treatise Montesquieu advocates:
 Constitutionalism and separation of powers,
 the preservation of civil liberty and the rule of
law,
 and the idea that political and legal institutions
ought to reflect the social and geographical
character of each particular community.
The Spirit of Laws
• Montesquieu opens the book with a definition of law.
-Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary
relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings
have their laws: The Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the
intelligences superior to man its laws, the beasts their laws, man his
laws.
• In conclusion, Montesquieu is stating his assumption that a natural
law governs all things, including men.
• So far as men are concerned, the natural laws provide a standard
of justice “antecedent to the positive law”.
Understanding man in the Laws of Nature
• First, natural man is fearful and timid. He feels “nothing in himself at first
but impotency and weakness”.
 The first law of nature is Peace.

• Second, men have many wants.

 The second law of nature is man’s inclination to “seek for
nourishment,” to attempt to satisfy his wants.
• Third, although men are timid and fearful, they are naturally social.
 The third law of nature is instinct for association.
• Fourth, stems from man’s intelligence and his perception that organized
social life is desirable.
 The fourth law of nature is his desire to live in organized society.
• Three kinds of Law
 International Law- govern relations among nations.
 Political Law- regulate relations between governors and governed.
 Civil Law- govern relations among citizens.
• To provide political and civil law within a society, government is necessary.
• What kind of government should it be?
 The best government, is the one “which best agrees with the humor
and disposition of the people in whose favor it is establish.”
• The “nature and principle” of government must be taken into account, as
must a great number of social, economic, religious, and other factors, all of
which have a bearing on the law.
• Montesquieu’s task; his purpose is to consider the spirit rather than the
substance of the laws.
 The Nature and Principle of Government
• Nature of government- means Forms of Government Governing Principle
the form of ruler-ship found in a
civil society. I. Republican Virtue
• “Principles”- means the  Democratic- all of
the people rule.
underlying force by which that
 Aristocratic- few of
society is motivated. the people rule.

II. Monarchy Honor

III. Despotic Fear

 Laws and their Relation to Nature and Principles of
Government
• Laws of Education
 In a Democracy education should teach love of country.
 In a Monarchy education should teach the paramountcy of self-interest,
but it should be an enlightened self-interest, conducing to honor and the
general good.
 In a despotism servility should be taught.
 The laws of democracy should maintain the equality of the people,
especially their economic equality.
 In an aristocracy, moderation is the key to stability.
 The laws of monarchy should support the principle of honor.
 In despotism it is necessary to have a large army.
• Corruption of governments
 A government’s corruption, Montesquieu says, “begins with that of its
principles.”
 Corruption of a despotism is, in a sense, impossible; it is already
corrupt.
• The extent of territory to be employed
 A republic requires a small territory.
 A monarchy requires a moderate territory.
• Montesquieu’s ideas concerning the relationship between extent of
territory and governmental form were all known and have considerable
influence with the men who framed the constitution of the United States.
• Those ideas form an integral part of the theorists of federalism found in
the essays by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, known as The Federalists.
Liberty and the Separation of Powers
• “Liberty is a right of doing what
the laws permit, and if a citizen
could do what they forbid he
would be no longer possessed of
liberty, because all of his fellow
citizens have the same power.”
• Separation of Powers- the best
way to protect liberty was to
divide the powers of government
into three branches.
• Checks and balances- each
branch of government should
check (limit) the power of the
other two branches.
Political Liberty and the Individual
• Factors affecting liberty:
 The criminal laws of a country have a direct bearing upon personal
liberty.
 The tax laws of the country also relate to the political liberty of the
individual.
Montesquieu also warns against laws that infringe upon property rights.
• There is a great variety of laws in every society—natural, divine,
ecclesiastical, international, general political, particular political, the law of
conquest, and civil law. Each should apply to the subject to which it
properly relates.
Montesquieu also warns against laws that infringe upon property rights.
• In summary Montesquieu says that all the factors considered influence
man and mold a “general spirit” within a nation which must be taken
into account by legislators and leaders.
• Constitution and laws will be successful only if they are based upon this
spirit; to the degree that do not conform they will fail. Little can be done
to alter the general spirit, and extreme caution should be observed if
the attempt is made.
• Generally the function of legislators is to discover and understand the
spirit, not to change it. if changes are to be made, they must be made
properly.
• Law should be reformed by law, customs by the introduction of new
customs, “for it is very bad policy to change by law what ought to be
changed by custom.”