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Montesquieu's Theory Of Trias Politica

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Montesquieu (1689-1755) a French political theorist, from his real name, Charles Louis de Secondat baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, is one of main intellectual figure of the time of the Enlightenment. From 1728 to 1731, he undertakes a voyage in European countries such as Austria, Italy, Germany but also the Netherlands and England, where he collected knowledge on the different political and economical functioning of the regions he visited. This trip was a chance to engage the discussion with erudite persons and discover customs of the inhabitants. Thanks to this accumulation of knowledge and observation that inspired Montesquieu in the writing of his masterpiece, “The Spirit of the Laws” in 1748. His book firmly influenced the American …show more content…

All the knowledge that he accumulated during his voyage, brought him an overview of the political situation of the 18th century but also an understanding of the people via their culture. This understanding of the people help him the develop a system that could work in every different types of civilization. The separation of power or Trias Politica brings to the citizens of democratic system, a political liberty, by dividing these powers in three categories (legislative, executive, judiciary) that collaborate but also check each others. It is obvious that countries were inspired by Montesquieu’s ideas for the creation of their own constitution because this theory of Trias Politica was something totally knew and will bring more liberty and rights for the citizens. It is clear that the U.S. constitution was influenced by this doctrine of separation of power as we can see, the first three articles of the constitution are only dealing with the question of the organization of the legislative, executive and judiciary power. To answer to the research question of this paper which is “Did Montesquieu’s ideas influenced the U.S. constitution?”, I can say yes, Montesquieu’s ideas influenced writer of the U.S. constitution but did not stop at the American level, this doctrine has inspired and influenced probably all constitutions of today democratic

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