Baron de Montesquieu

Charles de Secondat, better known as Baron de Montesquieu played a major role in the enlightenment, not only because he was the first French man associated with the enlightenment, but because his ideas about government changed everything that was established back then. His idea about government, was that there should not be only one person with all of the power, like there was everywhere at the time, but instead, there should be a separation of power, like there is now. He thought that by doing this, there would be more of a balance, and there would not be just one group, or even just one person with all of the power. The three groups would balance each other out, and make sure that none of them were taking too much of the power. This was much like the checks and balances that we have today. Another idea that Montesquieu had that was rare in those times was that there should not be slavery, because it did not make sense to have people working for people.

Montesquieu did change a lot of the government for the better of the people, but he also had some ideas that were not fair too a lot of people. His idea of women being weaker than men, made a lot of women mad, and it also made people treat women even worse that they were being treated. Other than this, Montesquieu was a really positive man full with wonderful ideas for the future.