Thursday, October 1, 2009
Baron de Montesquieu
his name was Charles Louis de Secondat. He was born into a wealthy family in 1689 in Bordeaux, France. Placed under the care of a poor family. He went to college and ended up becoming a lawyer. His father died in 1713, and left Secondat under the care of his uncle. His uncle died in 1716 and left him with his fortune, his title as the president of the parliament of Bordeaux, and his title of Baron de Montesquieu. He gained fame in 1721 through his Persian Letters, which criticized the lifestyle of the french and of the church. His book, On the Spirit of Laws, published in 1748 was his claim to fame, and discussed how he felt that government should run. He believed there were three types of government. a monarchy:led by a single king or queen. A republic, ruled by an elected leader, or a despotism ruled by a dictator. He believed that the most effective government powered by the people, a democracy. He felt that it would only be successful if power was correctly balanced. There would be a judicial branch, an executive branch, and a legislative branch. All with equal power to one another. a system of checks and balances. although he believed in democracy, he didn't believe that all men were created equal. he believed that women were far inferior to men, and he approved of slavery. He died in 1755.
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Chris,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Montesquieu approved of slavery.
'Montesquieu writes that "the state of slavery is in its own nature bad" (SL 15.1); he is particularly contemptuous of religious and racist justifications for slavery.'
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/
Montesquieu was one of the few people of this historical era to support the abolition of slavery (as he did in The Spirit of the Laws).
Perhaps the reason why you thought that he supported slavery was because in his book, he composed a satirical list of arguments that all supported slavery. Since the book's publication, many people over the years have removed this passage from its surrounding context, thereby distorting Montesquieu's intended meaning. This kind of misrepresentation is commonly known as quote mining.