Top 15 Sensational Facts about Montesquieu

Montesquieu’s burst. Photo by Mossot. Wikimedia

Top 15 Sensational Facts about Montesquieu

*Originally published by Barbara M on July 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R on June 2023

Charles Louis de Secondat, simply referred to as Montesquieu. He was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.

He is the primary source of the separation of powers theory, which is used in many constitutions around the world. Montesquieu is also credited with doing more than any other author to establish the term “despotism” in the political lexicon.

His anonymously published The Spirit of Law (1748), which was well-received in both Great Britain and the American colonies. Which influenced the United States’ Founding Fathers in drafting the United States Constitution.

1. Montesquieu was from a modest family

Montesquieu’s father, Jacques de Secondat, was a member of an old military family of modest means. He had been ennobled in the 16th century for services to the crown, and his mother, Marie-Françoise de Pesnel, was a pious lady of English ancestry.

She significantly increased her husband’s wealth in the valuable wine-producing property of La Brède. When she died in 1696, the barony of La Brède passed to Charles-Louis, her eldest child, who was then seven years old.

He was educated at home first, then in the village, before being sent away to school in 1700. The Collège de Juilly was located near Paris in the diocese of Meaux.

It was frequented by Bordeaux’s prominent families, and the priests of the Oratory, to which it belonged, provided a solid education along enlightened and modern lines.

2. Montesquieu was an advocate

Montesquieu. Photo by T. Boilly et Langlois. Wikimedia

Charles-Louis left Juilly in 1705. He continued his studies at the University of Bordeaux’s faculty of law. Graduated, and became an advocate in 1708.

Shortly thereafter, he appears to have moved to Paris to gain practical legal experience. The death of his father in 1713 drew him back to Bordeaux.

3. The Persian letters were published by Montesquieu

Persian letters. Photo by Montesquieu. Wikimedia

He published the Persian Letters anonymously, though his authorship was well known. He began to spend more time in Paris, where he attended salons and represented the parliament and the Bordeaux Academy.

Several minor works were written during this time period. In 1725, he resigned from the parliament after selling his life interest in the office. Despite religious opposition, he was elected to the Académie Française in 1728 and soon left France to travel abroad.

Montesquieu traveled to Italy, Germany, Austria, and other countries before settling in England for two years. He kept a journal. He was a big fan of the English political system and drew on his observations of it in his later work.

4. According to Montesquieu, there are three types of governments

According to Montesquieu, there are three types of governments: republican governments (which can be democratic or aristocratic), monarchies, and despotisms. Unlike Aristotle, Montesquieu does not distinguish between forms of government based on the virtue of the sovereign.

The distinction between monarchy and despotism, for example, is determined not by the monarch’s virtue, but by whether he governs “by fixed and established laws”.

Each form of government has a principle, a set of “human passions that propel it”, and each can be corrupted if its principle is undermined or destroyed.

5. Montesquieu was liberal

Montesquieu. Photo by Eutouring. Wikimedia

Montesquieu is regarded as one of the greatest libertarian philosophers, but his is what Shklar refers to as “a liberalism of fear”. Political liberty, according to Montesquieu, is “a tranquility of mind arising from each person’s opinion of his safety”.

Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever we want: for example, if we have the freedom to harm others, others will have the freedom to harm us, and we will have no confidence in our own safety.

Living under laws that protect us from harm while allowing us to do as much as possible, and that allow us to have the greatest possible confidence that if we obey those laws, the power of the state will not be directed against us, is what liberty entails.

6. Montesquieu believes commerce is the only way a country can prosper

Montesquieu believes that commerce is the only way for a country to enrich itself. Conquering and plundering one’s neighbors may provide temporary cash infusions. The costs of maintaining an occupying army and administering subjugated peoples place strains on few countries.

Extraction of precious metals from colonial mines causes general inflation, raising extraction costs while decreasing the value of the extracted metals. Commerce, on the other hand, has no such drawbacks. It does not necessitate massive armies or continued subjugation of other peoples. It does not jeopardize itself.

7. He says climate substantially influences the nature of man 

Montesquieu. Photo by Sèvres Manufactory. Wikimedia

Climate and geography, according to Montequieu, influence the temperaments and customs of a country’s inhabitants. He is not a determinist and believes that these influences are not irresistible.

Nonetheless, he believes that laws should account for these effects, accommodating them when necessary and mitigating their worst effects.

A cold climate, according to Montesquieu, constricts our bodies’ fibers and causes coarser juices to flow through them. Heat, on the other hand, causes our fibers to expand and produces more rarefied juices. These physiological changes have an impact on our personalities.

8. According to him, the quality of a country’s soil influences the form of government

The quality of a country’s soil influences the structure of its government. Monarchies are more common where the soil is fertile, and republics are more common where the soil is barren. 

Those who live in fruitful countries are more likely to be satisfied with their situation and to value in a government not the liberty it bestows, but its ability to provide them with enough security to continue farming. 

Those who live in barren areas must work hard to survive, which makes them industrious, sober, inured to hardship, courageous, and fit for war.

9. He insists religious advice shouldn’t be as binding as laws

Montesquieu considers religions in the Spirit of the Laws “only in relation to the good they produce in civil society”, rather than their truth or falsity. He considers various religions to be appropriate for various environments and forms of government.

Protestantism is best suited to republics, Catholicism to monarchies, and Islam to despotisms; the Islamic prohibition on eating pork is appropriate for Arabia, where hogs are scarce and contribute to disease, whereas a prohibition on eating beef is appropriate for India, where cattle are desperately needed but do not thrive.

10. Montesquieu had three children

In 1715, he married the Protestant Jeanne de Lartigue, with whom he had three children. 

11. He was a member of the French nobility

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, also known as Montesquieu, was a member of the French aristocracy. He received social standing and certain advantages inside French society as a baron and a prestigious title he inherited from his uncle.

Nevertheless, despite coming from a noble family, Montesquieu was sceptical of France’s absolute monarchy and nobility. He often campaigned for political reforms based on the values of liberty and individual rights and questioned established systems of power.

12. Montesquieu had a bad marriage

Williams, Sophus, photographer; Hader, Ernst, artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The relationship between Montesquieu and Jeanne de Lartigue was troubled and unhappy. The couple had three kids together but spent a good deal of their life apart. They reportedly had a difficult time finding common ground during their marriage, which was not a happy one. Although the causes of their rocky relationship are still unknown, it is apparent that Montesquieu’s personal life was troubled by marital problems.

13. Montesquieu was known for his love of books

Montesquieu was well-known for his love of literature. He was a bookworm who loved the written word. He had a very big personal library that carried his range of interests, he had a collection of books from a variety of disciplines like philosophy, history and anthropology, he always said that books were a doorway to knowledge.  Montesquieu’s deep love of reading greatly influenced his intellectual growth and helped him make important contributions to political and social theory.

14. Montesquieu strongly advocated for religious tolerance

Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Montesquieu was a strong supporter of religious tolerance. He was emphatic about the value of respecting and welcoming people of all faiths. Montesquieu claimed that people should have the freedom to practise their religion without worrying about punishment or prejudice. He stressed the significance of respecting individual rights and freedoms and held that religious tolerance was crucial to creating a peaceful and harmonious society.

15. He was a member of Académie Française

Becoming a member of the prestigious Académie Française was an honour for Montesquieu. A famous centre for French literature founded in 1635 is the Académie Française.

Montesquieu was part of a limited group of intellectuals and academics who were in charge of maintaining the French language and advancing literary brilliance. His admission to the Académie Française further enhanced his standing as a reputable individual in the literary and intellectual circles of his age.