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Montesquieu's philosophy that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another" [17] reminded Madison and others that a free and stable foundation for their new national government required a clearly defined and balanced separation of powers. Montesquieu was troubled by a cataract and feared going blind.
Separation of powers is a political doctrine originating in the writings of Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws, in which he argued for a constitutional government with three separate branches, each of which would have defined authority to check the powers of the others.
Montesquieu's treatise, already widely disseminated, had an enormous influence on the work of many others, most notably: Catherine the Great, who produced Nakaz (Instruction); the Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution; and Alexis de Tocqueville, who applied Montesquieu's methods to a study of American society, in Democracy in America.
Montesquieu argues that each Power should only exercise its functions. He was quite explicit here: [ 22 ] When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute ...
Separation of powers was the equivalent of prosperity to him. Madison states Montesquieu used the British government as an example of separation of powers to analyze connections between the two. Madison quotes Montesquieu in The Spirit of Law as saying the British are the "mirror of political liberty." Thus, Montesquieu believed that the ...
[44] [45] A common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. [46] [47] Montesquieu included both democracies, where all the people have a share in rule, and aristocracies or oligarchies, where only some of the people rule, as republican forms of government. [48] These categories are not exclusive.
In contrast, Victoria F. Nourse has argued that the Vesting Clauses do not create the separation of powers, and it actually arises from the representation and appointment clauses elsewhere in the Constitution. [2] [additional citation(s) needed]
The concept of despotism, and especially oriental despotism, entered European political thought with Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws in the 18th century. The idea was not new or unique to Montesquieu 's work, but Montesquieu's work is widely regarded as having been the most influential on modern political thought. [ 4 ]