What was the role of Montesquieu in the French Revolution?
1 Answer
Montesquieu's writings help to create a desire for freedom and helped to spark the French Revolution.
Explanation:
Montesquieu lived before the French Revolution. He was a Noble man who served as member of a local French legislature that worked to protect people from the abuses of the French King.
More important that his actual work in his life time was the effect of his writings even after his death. His work the Spirit of the Laws. was instrumental in creating a desire for freedom and helped to spark the French Revolution.
Montesquieu's writings attacked the feudalistic basis of French society. He argued as Locke and Thomas Jefferson that all people were created equal. This ideal eliminated the idea of the Divine Right of Kings to Rule. If the King did not have the right to rule then the people had the right to rebel which they did.
Sadly the French revolution did not follow Montesquieu's ideas on separation of powers. The American Revolution embraced the ideas of separation of powers and was able to establish a stable democracy. The French revolution fell into tyranny and despotism.
