Enlightenment Thinkers
While all the Enlightenment thinkers may have played a part in the formation of america,
Montesquieu's ideals and beliefs seemed to be the most influential to American colonist at the time
period of America's reconstruction. Yes Rousseau, Hobbes, and Locke were all influential people,
however, they didn't have quite as much of an influence as Montesquieu.
In America today, our government is solely based off of the fundamental idea of separation of
powers. As a whole, we believe that idea is the optimal way to run any government system, thus
why we have a executive branch who carries out federal laws and recommends new ones, directs
national defense and foreign policy, and performs ceremonial duties , a legislative branch, which is
Headed by Congress, which includes the House of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
He had the same mindset of most colonist at the time and knows oppression is bound to happen
when they aren't separate. He makes the claim that when all powers are held by one, " there is no
liberty" and " there can be no liberty, because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or
senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in tyrannical manner" (Excerpt from " Spirit of
the laws"). A police officer would be able to create oppressive laws, Approve them , Arrest you
based off of his oppressive laws and the finally deem you guilty in the sense if all powers were to be
held by one central power. Montesquieu understood that under a dictatorship, that's how things
would be ran. He would rather have a separate person to make laws, then approve, someone to
enforce them , and someone to judge how well the enforcement was done. Colonist also believed he
ideals were best suited to have a successful state, hence the reason we have those fundamental ideas
today, because of the influential thoughts of
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