Analysis Of Montesquieu´s The Second Treatise Of Government

The Enlightenment happened during the time period of the 1600’s to the 1700’s. There were many important speakers during this time, for example, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Voltaire. It happened in Europe, more specifically England and France. It happened because people started to question the way the world had been working. Because of that reason, many important ideas were discussed during this time such as the state of nature, social contract, and separation of power. John Locke published “The Second Treatise of Government” which covered the topic of natural rights. In the book, there is a quote that reads “All men are naturally born in a state of perfect freedom, equal and independent to act how they want to. This quote is explaining the rights every man is born with. He has the right to live, the right to freedom, and the right to have and own land or other possessions. It also subtly hints at how in a state of nature, people also have the right to

Separation of power is when you have a government that has multiple branches, and each branch has an equal amount of power. For example, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The legislative branch creatives laws and change those who have already been created. The executive branch is used to maintain the public security by carrying out the laws created by the legislative branch. Lastly, the judicial branch punishes criminals and settles disputes between individuals. They all have different jobs, but none of them is more important than the other. In Montesquieu’s work, he says “There would be no freedom if the same man or the same group of men controlled those three powers all at once.” This explains how if one branch of government were to get too much power, they could overthrow another branch or possibly get so much power that no one would have the ability to say no to