Editing Montesquieu

{{Short description|French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher (1689–1755)}}
{{About|the French philosopher}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region = [[Western philosophy]]
|era    = [[18th-century philosophy]]
|image  = Charles Montesquieu.jpg
|caption = Portrait by an anonymous artist, {{Circa|1753–1794}}
|name    = Montesquieu
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1689|1|18|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Château de la Brède]], La Brède, [[Aquitaine]], France
|death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1755|2|10|1689|1|18}}
|death_place = [[Paris]], France
|school_tradition = [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]<br />[[Classical liberalism]]
|main_interests   = [[Political philosophy]]
|notable_ideas = Separation of state powers: [[Executive (government)|executive]], [[legislative]], [[judicial]]; classification of systems of government based on their principles
|spouse = {{marriage|Jeanne de Lartigue|1715}}
|children = 3
|signature = Signatur Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.PNG
}}

'''Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|us|ˈ|m|ɒ|n|t|ə|s|k|j|uː}},<ref>[https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/montesquieu "Montesquieu"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141121202909/https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/montesquieu |date=21 November 2014}}. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{IPAc-en|uk|ˌ|m|ɒ|n|t|E|ˈ|s|k|j|ɜː}};<ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|ʃaʁl lwi də səɡɔ̃da baʁɔ̃ də la bʁɛd e də mɔ̃tɛskjø|lang}}.}} (18 January 1689{{snd}}10 February 1755), generally referred to as simply '''Montesquieu''', was a French [[judge]], [[intellectual|man of letters]], [[historian]], and [[political philosophy|political philosopher]].

He is the principal source of the theory of [[separation of powers]], which is implemented in many [[constitution]]s throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word ''[[despotism]]'' in the political lexicon.<ref name="Boesche 1990 1">{{Harvnb|Boesche|1990|p=1}}.</ref> His anonymously published ''[[The Spirit of Law]]'' (1748), which was received well in both Great Britain and the American colonies, influenced the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]] in drafting the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]].

==Biography==
[[File:Chateau la brede.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.09|[[Château de la Brède]], Montesquieu's birthplace]]
Montesquieu was born at the [[Château de la Brède]] in southwest France, {{convert|25|km}} south of [[Bordeaux]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&q=bordeaux+map&ie=UTF-8&hq&hnear=0xd5527e8f751ca81:0x796386037b397a89,Bordeaux,+France&gl=us&ei=J4tmUrypF8u4kQe1-oDIBA&ved=0CC4Q8gEwAA|title=Bordeaux · France|website=Bordeaux · France}}</ref> His father, Jacques de Secondat (1654–1713), was a soldier with a long noble ancestry, including descent from [[Richard de la Pole]], [[House of York|Yorkist]] claimant to the [[King of England|English crown]]. His mother, Marie Françoise de Pesnel (1665–1696), who died when Charles was seven, was an heiress who brought the title of Barony of [[La Brède]] to the Secondat family.<ref>Sorel, A. ''Montesquieu''. London, George Routledge & Sons, 1887 (Ulan Press reprint, 2011), p. 10. {{ASIN|B00A5TMPHC}}</ref> 

His family was of [[Huguenot]] origin.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GvETDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Montesquieu%22+%22huguenot%22&pg=PA269 | isbn=978-0-19-927922-7 | title=Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752 | date=12 October 2006 | publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCclEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Montesquieu%22+%22huguenot%22&pg=PT186 | isbn=9781907909085 | title=Agreeable Connexions: Scottish Enlightenment Links with France | date=5 November 2012 | publisher=Casemate Publishers }}</ref> After the death of his mother he was sent to the [[Catholic]] [[College of Juilly]], a prominent school for the children of French nobility, where he remained from 1700 to 1711.<ref>Sorel (1887), p. 11.</ref> His father died in 1713, and he became a ward of his uncle, the Baron de [[Montesquieu, Lot-et-Garonne|Montesquieu]].<ref>Sorel (1887), p. 12.</ref> In 1714, he became a counselor of the Bordeaux [[Parlement]]. He showed a preference for Protestantism.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHNqDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Montesquieu%22+%22protestantism%22&pg=PA194 | isbn=9781108552691 | title=Montesquieu's Liberalism and the Problem of Universal Politics | date=23 August 2018 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=po6UVzZ1WAAC&dq=%22Montesquieu%22+%22protestantism%22&pg=PA194 | isbn=9781139492614 | title=Civil Religion: A Dialogue in the History of Political Philosophy | date=25 October 2010 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> 

In 1715 he married the [[Protestant]] Jeanne de Lartigue, with whom he eventually had three children.<ref>Sorel (1887), pp. 11–12.</ref> The Baron died in 1716, leaving him his fortune as well as his title, and the office of [[président à mortier]] in the Bordeaux Parlement,<ref>Sorel (1887), pp. 12–13.</ref> a post that he held for twelve years.

Montesquieu's early life was a time of significant governmental change. England had declared itself a [[constitutional monarchy]] in the wake of its [[Glorious Revolution]] (1688–1689), and joined with Scotland in the [[Union of 1707]] to form the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. In France, the long-reigning [[Louis XIV]] died in 1715, and was succeeded by the five-year-old [[Louis XV]]. These national transformations had a great impact on Montesquieu, and he referred to them repeatedly in his work.

[[File:Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 1, title page).jpg|thumb|upright=0.73|Montesquieu's 1748 ''[[:File:Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 1).pdf|De l'Esprit des loix]]'']]

Montesquieu eventually withdrew from the [[lawyer|practice of law]] to devote himself to study and writing. He achieved literary success with the publication of his 1721 ''[[Persian Letters]]'' ({{langx|fr|Lettres persanes}}), a satire representing society as seen through the eyes of two [[Persians|Persian]] visitors to [[Paris]], cleverly criticizing absurdities of contemporary French society. The work was an instant classic and accordingly was immediately pirated. 

In 1722, he went to Paris and entered social circles with the help of friends including the [[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick|Duke of Berwick]] whom he had known when Berwick was military governor at Bordeaux. He also acquainted himself with the English politician [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Viscount Bolingbroke]], some of whose political views were later reflected in Montesquieu's analysis of the English constitution. In 1726 he sold his office, bored with the parlement and turning more toward Paris. In time, despite some impediments he was elected to the ''[[Académie Française]]'' in January 1728.

In April 1728, with Berwick's nephew [[James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave|Lord Waldegrave]] as his traveling companion, Montesquieu embarked on a [[grand tour]] of Europe, during which he kept a journal. His travels included Austria and [[Hungary]] and a year in Italy. He went to England at the end of October 1729, in the company of [[Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield|Lord Chesterfield]], where he was initiated into Freemasonry at the ''Horn Tavern'' Lodge in Westminster.<ref>{{Harvnb|Berman|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oQTvxkhqomsC&pg=PA150 150]}}</ref> He remained in England until the spring of 1731, when he returned to La Brède. Outwardly he seemed to be settling down as a squire: he altered his park in the English fashion, made inquiries into his own genealogy, and asserted his seignorial rights. But he was continuously at work in his study, and his reflections on geography, laws and customs during his travels became the primary sources for his major works on political philosophy at this time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Li|first=Hansong|date=25 September 2018|title=The space of the sea in Montesquieu's political thought|journal=Global Intellectual History|volume=6|issue=4|pages=421–442|doi=10.1080/23801883.2018.1527184|s2cid=158285235}}</ref> 

In 1734, he published ''[[Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline]]'', among his three best known books. In 1748, he published ''The Spirit of Law'', quickly translated into English. It quickly rose to influence [[political thought]] profoundly in Europe and America. In France, the book met with an enthusiastic reception by many, but was denounced by the Sorbonne and, in 1751, by the Catholic Church ([[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Index of Prohibited Books]]). It received the highest praise from much of the rest of Europe, especially Britain.

[[File:Lettres familieres a divers amis d'Italie.tif|thumb|upright=0.73|''Lettres familières à divers amis d'Italie'', 1767]]
Montesquieu was highly regarded in the British colonies in [[British North America|North America]] as a champion of liberty. According to a survey of late eighteenth-century works by [[political scientist]] Donald Lutz, Montesquieu was the most frequently quoted authority on government and politics in colonial pre-revolutionary British America, cited more by the American founders than any source except for the [[Bible]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lutz|1984}}.</ref> Following the [[American Revolution]], his work remained a powerful influence on many of the American founders, most notably [[James Madison]] of [[Virginia]], the "Father of the [[U.S. Constitution|Constitution]]". Montesquieu's philosophy that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another"<ref>Montesquieu, [https://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=MonLaws.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=137&division=div2 ''The Spirit of Law'', Book 11, Chapter 6, "On the English Constitution."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928071427/https://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=MonLaws.xml&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=137&division=div2 |date=28 September 2013 }} Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, Retrieved 1 August 2012</ref> 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. At the end of 1754 he visited Paris and was soon taken ill. He died from a fever on 10 February 1755. He was buried in the [[Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris]].

==Philosophy of history==
Montesquieu's [[philosophy of history]] minimized the role of individual persons and events. He expounded the view in ''Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline'', that each historical event was driven by a principal movement:

{{Blockquote|It is not chance that rules the world. Ask the Romans, who had a continuous sequence of successes when they were guided by a certain plan, and an uninterrupted sequence of reverses when they followed another. There are general causes, moral and physical, which act in every monarchy, elevating it, maintaining it, or hurling it to the ground. All accidents are controlled by these causes. And if the chance of one battle—that is, a particular cause—has brought a state to ruin, some general cause made it necessary for that state to perish from a single battle. In a word, the main trend draws with it all particular accidents.<ref>{{citation|title=Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline|author=Montesquieu|year=1734|publisher=The Free Press|url=http://www.constitution.org/cm/ccgrd_l.htm|access-date=30 November 2011|archive-date=6 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806091235/https://www.constitution.org/cm/ccgrd_l.htm|url-status=live}} Ch. XVIII.</ref>}}

In discussing the transition from the [[Roman Republic|Republic]] to the [[Roman Empire|Empire]], he suggested that if [[Caesar]] and [[Pompey]] had not worked to usurp the government of the Republic, other men would have risen in their place. The cause was not the ambition of Caesar or Pompey, but the ambition of man.

==Political views==
{{Republicanism sidebar}}
{{Liberalism in France}}
Montesquieu is credited as being among the progenitors, who include [[Herodotus]] and [[Tacitus]], of [[anthropology]]—as being among the first to extend comparative methods of classification to the political forms in human societies. Indeed, the French political anthropologist [[Georges Balandier]] considered Montesquieu to be "the initiator of a scientific enterprise that for a time performed the role of cultural and social anthropology".<ref>{{Harvnb|Balandier|1970|p=3}}.</ref> According to social anthropologist [[D. F. Pocock]], Montesquieu's ''The Spirit of Law'' was "the first consistent attempt to survey the varieties of human society, to classify and compare them and, within society, to study the inter-functioning of institutions."<ref>{{Harvnb|Pocock|1961|p=[https://archive.org/stream/socialanthropolo00poco#page/8/mode/2up 9]}}.<br />{{Harvnb|Tomaselli|2006|p=9}}, similarly describes it as "among the most intellectually challenging and inspired contributions to political theory in the eighteenth century. [... It] set the tone and form of modern social and political thought."</ref> "Émile Durkheim," notes David W. Carrithers, "even went so far as to suggest that it was precisely this realization of the interrelatedness of social phenomena that brought social science into being."<ref>Carrithers, 1977, p. 27, citing Durkheim 1960, pp. 56–57)</ref> 

Montesquieu's political anthropology gave rise to his influential view that forms of government are supported by governing principles: virtue for republics, honor for monarchies, and fear for despotisms. American founders studied Montesquieu's views on how the English achieved liberty by separating executive, legislative, and judicial powers, and when [[Catherine the Great]] wrote her ''[[Nakaz]]'' (Instruction) for the Legislative Assembly she had created to clarify the existing Russian law code, she avowed borrowing heavily from Montesquieu's ''Spirit of Law'', although she discarded or altered portions that did not support Russia's absolutist bureaucratic monarchy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ransel|1975|p=179}}.</ref>

Montesquieu's most influential work divided French society into three classes (or ''[[trias politica]]'', a term he coined): the [[monarchy]], the [[aristocracy]], and the [[commons]].{{Clarify|date=August 2021}}  Montesquieu saw two types of governmental power existing: the [[wikt:sovereign|sovereign]] and the [[Public administration|administrative]]. The administrative powers were the [[executive (government)|executive]], the [[legislative]], and the [[judicial]]. These should be separate from and dependent upon each other so that the influence of any one power would not be able to exceed that of the other two, either singly or in combination. This was a radical idea because it does not follow the three [[Estates of the realm|Estates]] structure of the French Monarchy: the [[clergy]], the aristocracy, and the people at large represented by the [[Estates General (France)|Estates-General]], thereby erasing the last vestige of a [[feudalism|feudalistic]] structure.

The theory of the [[separation of powers]] largely derives from ''The Spirit of Law'':

{{Blockquote|
 In every state there are three kinds of power: the legislative authority, the executive authority for things that stem from the law of nations, and the executive authority for those that stem from civil law.

By virtue of the first, the prince or magistrate enacts temporary or perpetual laws, and amends or abrogates those that have been already enacted. By the second, he makes peace or war, sends or receives embassies, establishes the public security, and provides against invasions. By the third, he punishes criminals, or determines the disputes that arise between individuals. The latter we shall call the judiciary power, and the other, simply, the executive power of the state.
|''The Spirit of Law'', XI, 6.}}

Montesquieu argues that each power should only exercise its own functions; he is quite explicit here:

{{Blockquote|
When in the same person or in the same body of magistracy the legislative authority is combined with the executive authority, there is no freedom, because one can fear lest the same monarch or the same senate make tyrannical laws in order to carry them out tyrannically.
 Again there is no freedom if the authority to judge is not separated from the legislative and executive authorities. If it were combined with the legislative authority, power over the life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislator. If it were combined with the executive authority, the judge could have the strength of an oppressor.
 All would be lost if the same man or the same body of principals, or of nobles, or of the people, exercised these three powers: that of making laws, that of executing public resolutions, and that of judging crimes or disputes between individuals.
|''The Spirit of Law'', XI, 6.}}

If the legislative branch appoints the executive and judicial powers, as Montesquieu indicated, there will be no separation or division of its powers, since the power to appoint carries with it the power to revoke.

{{Blockquote|The executive authority must be in the hands of a monarch, for this part of the government, which almost always requires immediate action, is better administrated by one than by several, whereas that which depends on the legislative authority is often better organized by several than by one person alone.<br />
If there were no monarch, and the executive authority were entrusted to a certain number of persons chosen from the legislative body, that would be the end of freedom, because the two authorities would be combined, the same persons sometimes having, and always in a position to have, a role in both.
|''The Spirit of Law'', XI, 6.}}

Montesquieu identifies three main forms of government, each supported by a social "principle": [[monarchy|monarchies]] (free governments headed by a hereditary figure, e.g. king, queen, emperor), which rely on the principle of honor; [[republic]]s (free governments headed by popularly elected leaders), which rely on the principle of virtue; and despotisms (unfree), headed by despots which rely on fear. The free governments are dependent on constitutional arrangements that establish checks and balances. Montesquieu devotes one chapter of ''The Spirit of Law'' to a discussion of how England's constitution sustained liberty (XI, 6), and another to the realities of English politics (XIX, 27). As for France, the intermediate powers (including the nobility) the nobility and the parlements had been weakened by Louis XIV, and welcomed the strengthening of parlementary power in 1715.

Montesquieu advocated reform of slavery in ''The Spirit of Law'', specifically arguing that slavery was inherently wrong because all humans are born equal,<ref name=":0">Mander, Jenny. 2019. "Colonialism and Slavery". p. 273 in ''The Cambridge History of French Thought'', edited by M. Moriarty and J. Jennings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> but that it could perhaps be justified within the context of climates with intense heat, wherein laborers would feel less inclined to work voluntarily.<ref name=":0" /> As part of his advocacy he presented a satirical [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_the_Laws#Book_XV:_How_the_Laws_of_Civil_Slavery_Relate_to_the_Nature_of_Climate hypothetical list of arguments for slavery]. In the hypothetical list, ironically listed pro-slavery arguments without further comment, including an argument stating that sugar would become too expensive without the free labor of slaves.<ref name=":0" />

While addressing French readers of his ''General Theory'', [[John Maynard Keynes]] described Montesquieu as "the real French equivalent of [[Adam Smith]], the greatest of your economists, head and shoulders above the physiocrats in penetration, clear-headedness and good sense (which are the qualities an economist should have)."<ref>See the [https://www.scribd.com/doc/11392072/The-General-Theory-of-Employment-Interest-and-Money preface] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110212009/https://www.scribd.com/doc/11392072/The-General-Theory-of-Employment-Interest-and-Money |date=10 November 2014 }} to the French edition of Keynes' ''General Theory''.<br />See also {{Harvnb|Devletoglou|1963}}.</ref>

== Meteorological climate theory ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2020}}
Another example of Montesquieu's anthropological thinking, outlined in ''The Spirit of Law'' and hinted at in ''[[Persian Letters]]'', is his [[meteorological]] climate theory, which holds that [[climate]] may substantially influence the nature of man and his society, a theory also promoted by the French naturalist [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]]. By placing an emphasis on environmental influences as a material condition of life, Montesquieu prefigured modern anthropology's concern with the impact of material conditions, such as available energy sources, organized production systems, and technologies, on the growth of complex socio-cultural systems.

He asserted that certain climates are more favorable than others, the temperate climate of France being ideal. His view is that people living in very warm countries are "too hot-tempered", while those in northern countries are "icy" or "stiff". The climate of middle Europe is therefore optimal. On this point, Montesquieu may well have been influenced by a similar pronouncement in [[Histories (Herodotus)|''The Histories'' of Herodotus]], where he makes a distinction between the "ideal" temperate climate of Greece as opposed to the overly cold climate of Scythia and the overly warm climate of Egypt. This was a common belief at the time, and can also be found within the medical writings of Herodotus' times, including the "On Airs, Waters, Places" of the Hippocratic corpus. One can find a similar statement in ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' by Tacitus, one of Montesquieu's favorite authors.

[[Philip M. Parker]], in his book ''[[Physioeconomics]]'' (MIT Press, 2000), endorses Montesquieu's theory and argues that much of the economic variation between countries is explained by the physiological effect of different climates.

From a sociological perspective, [[Louis Althusser]], in his analysis of Montesquieu's revolution in method,<ref>{{Harvnb|Althusser|1972}}.</ref> alluded to the seminal character of anthropology's inclusion of material factors, such as climate, in the explanation of social dynamics and political forms. Examples of certain climatic and geographical factors giving rise to increasingly complex social systems include those that were conducive to the rise of agriculture and the domestication of wild plants and animals.

== Memorialization ==
Between 1981 and 1994, a depiction of Montesquieu appeared on the 200 [[French franc]] note.<ref>{{cite web |title=200 Francs Montesquieu {{!}} Grand choix de billets de collection de la BDF |url=https://www.bourseducollectionneur.com/product-category/billets/billet-de-la-banque-de-france/200-francs/200-francs-montesquieu/ |website=Bourse du collectionneur |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

[[File:France 200 francs 1983-a.jpg|thumb|Montesquieu on the 200 French franc note]]

Since 1989, the annual Montesquieu prize has been awarded by the French Association of Historians of Political Ideas for the best French-language thesis on the [[history of political thought]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Prix Montesquieu - Association Française des Historiens des idées politiques |url=https://univ-droit.fr/recherche/actualites-de-la-recherche/appels/23817-prix-montesquieu-association-francaise-des-historiens-des-idees-politiques |website=univ-droit.fr : Portail Universitaire du droit |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=fr-fr}}</ref>

On [[Europe Day]] 2007, the Montesquieu Institute opened in [[The Hague]], the Netherlands, with a mission to advance research and education on the parliamentary history and political culture of the [[European Union]] and its member states.<ref>{{cite web |title=Start Montesquieu Instituut |url=https://www.montesquieu-instituut.nl/id/vhkk9zuy1xnr/start_montesquieu_instituut |website=www.montesquieu-instituut.nl |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=nl}}</ref>

The Montesquieu tower in [[Luxembourg]] was completed in 2008 as an addition to the [[Palais de la Cour de Justice|headquarters]] of the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]].<ref name=CJEU>{{cite web |title=Montesquieu Tower |url=https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3943798/en/ |publisher=Europa (web portal) |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The building houses many of the institution's translation services. Until 2019, it stood, with its sister tower, Comenius, as the tallest building in the country.<ref name=CJEU />

== List of principal works ==
* Memoirs and discourses at the Academy of Bordeaux (1718–1721): including discourses on echoes, on the renal glands, on weight of bodies, on transparency of bodies and on natural history, collected with introductions and critical apparatus in volumes 8 and 9 of ''Œuvres complètes'', Oxford and Naples, 2003–2006.
* ''Spicilège'' (''Gleanings'', 1715 onward)
* ''[[Persian Letters|Lettres persanes]]'' (''Persian Letters'', 1721)
* ''Le Temple de Gnide'' (''The Temple of Gnidos'', a prose poem; 1725)
* {{ill|Histoire véritable|fr|Histoire Véritable|ialic=yes}} (''True History'', an "Oriental" tale; c.&nbsp;1723–c.&nbsp;1738)
* ''[[Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline|Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence]]'' (''Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline'', 1734) at [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8613371v/f7.image.r=.langEN Gallica]
* ''Arsace et Isménie'' (''Arsace and Isménie'', a novel; 1742)
* ''De l'esprit des lois'' (''[[The Spirit of Law|(On) The Spirit of Law]]'', 1748) ([[:File:Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 1).pdf|volume 1]] and [[:File:Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 2).pdf|volume 2]] from [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ Gallica])
* ''Défense de "L'Esprit des lois"'' (''Defense of "The Spirit of Law"'', 1750)
* ''Essai sur le goût'' (''Essay on Taste'', published posthumously in 1757)
* ''Mes Pensées'' (''My Thoughts'', 1720–1755)

A critical edition of Montesquieu's works is being published by the Société Montesquieu. It is planned to total 22 volumes, of which (as of February 2022) all but five have appeared.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?rubrique5|website=Institut d'histoire des représentations et des idées dans les modernités|title=''Œuvres complètes''|access-date=28 February 2018|archive-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707080400/http://montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?rubrique5|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col}}
* [[Environmental determinism]]
* [[Liberalism]]
* [[List of abolitionist forerunners]]
* [[List of political systems in France]]
* [[List of liberal theorists]]
* [[Napoleon]]
* [[Politics of France]]
* [[Jean-Baptiste de Secondat]] (1716–1796), his son
* [[U.S. Constitution#Republics and fundamental law|U.S. Constitution]], influences
* [[Bibliography of the United States Constitution]] — Contains numerous works regarding Montesquieu's influence on American constitutionalism
{{end div col}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
'''Articles and chapters'''
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite journal |author-link=Roger Boesche |last=Boesche |first=Roger |year=1990 |title=Fearing Monarchs and Merchants: Montesquieu's Two Theories of Despotism |journal=[[The Western Political Quarterly]] |volume=43 |number=4 |pages=741–761 |jstor=448734 |doi=10.1177/106591299004300405 |s2cid=154059320}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Devletoglou |first=Nicos E. |year=1963 |title=Montesquieu and the Wealth of Nations |journal=[[The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.2307/139366 |jstor=139366}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Kuznicki |first=Jason |title=Knight, Frank H. (1885–1972) |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n164 |isbn=978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024 |lccn=2008009151 |pages=341–342 |chapter=Montesquieu, Charles de Second de (1689–1755) |chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/libertarianism/n164.xml}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lutz |first=Donald S. |year=1984 |title=The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought |journal=[[American Political Science Review]] |volume=78 |number=1 |pages=189–197 |jstor=1961257 |doi=10.2307/1961257|s2cid=145253561 }}
* 
* {{Cite book |last=Tomaselli |first=Sylvana |author-link=Sylvana Windsor, Countess of St Andrews |chapter=The spirit of nations |title=''In Mark Goldie and Robert Wokler, eds.,'' The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought ''(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)'' |pages=9–39 |ref={{Harvid|Tomaselli|2006}}}}
{{Refend}}

'''Books'''
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Citation |author=Althusser, Louis |author-link=Louis Althusser |title=Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx ''(London and New York: New Left Books, 1972)'' |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Althusser|1972}}}}
* {{Citation |author=Balandier, Georges |author-link=Georges Balandier |title=Political Anthropology ''(London: Allen Lane, 1970)'' |title-link=Penguin Books |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Balandier|1970}}}}
* {{Citation |last=Berman |first=Ric |year=2012 |title=The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects – Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1714–1740 ''(Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2012)'' |postscript=.}}
* {{Citation |last=Pocock |first=D. F. |title=Social Anthropology ''(London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961)'' |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Pocock|1961}}}}
* {{Citation |author=Ransel, David L. |title=The Politics of Catherinian Russia: The Panin Party'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1975) |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Ransel|1975}}}}
* {{Citation |last=Shackleton, Robert |author-link=Robert Shackleton |title=Montesquieu: a Critical Biography ''(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961)'' |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Shackleton|1961}}}}
* {{Citation |last=Shklar, Judith |title=Montesquieu ''(Oxford Past Masters series). (Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1989)'' |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Shklar|1989}}}}
* {{Citation |last=Spurlin, Paul M. |title=Montesquieu in America, 1760–1801 ''(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1941; reprint, New York: Octagon Books, 1961)'' |postscript=. |ref={{Harvid|Spurlin|1961}}}}
* {{Citation |last=Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine |title=Montesquieu '' (Folio Bibliographies) (Paris: Gallimard, 2017). ''Montesquieu: Let there be Enlightenment'', English translation by Philip Stewart, Cambridge University Press, 2023.}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Montesquieu}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* Société Montesquieu, [http://montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/]
* ''A Montesquieu Dictionary'', on line: "[https://dictionnaire-montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/en/home/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227145018/http://dictionnaire-montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/en/home/ |date=27 February 2022 }}"
* {{cite book |last= Ilbert |first=Courtenay  |author-link= Courtenay Ilbert |chapter= Montesquieu |editor1= Macdonell, John  |editor1-link = John Macdonell (judge)|editor2= Manson, Edward William Donoghue  |title= Great Jurists of the World |place= London |publisher=  John Murray |year=  1913 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13326/page/n13 1]–16 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13326|access-date= 14 February 2019  |via= Internet Archive}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=26352}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* {{Librivox author|id=5314}}
* [https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=Montesquieu&amode=words Free full-text works online]
* [https://archive.org/details/spirit_laws_01_1212 ''The Spirit of Laws (Volume 1)''] Audio book of Thomas Nugent translation
* [https://dictionnaire-montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/en/home/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227145018/http://dictionnaire-montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/en/home/ |date=27 February 2022 }} ''The Spirit of Law'', trans. Philip Stewart, open access.
* [https://montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?rubrique245] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213221758/http://montesquieu.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?rubrique245 |date=13 December 2020 }} ''Persian Letters'', trans. Philip Stewart, open access.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100408075609/https://www.livres-et-ebooks.fr/auteur/Montesquieu-2214/ Complete ebooks collection of Montesquieu] in French.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120609014435/https://athena.unige.ch/athena/montesquieu/montesquieu_lettres_persanes.html ''Lettres persanes'' at athena.unige.ch] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110408194916/https://ouclf.iuscomp.org/articles/montesquieu.shtml Montesquieu, "Notes on England"]
* [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/ Montesquieu] in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
* [https://ihrim.ens-lyon.fr "Montesquieu", Institut d'histoire des représentations et des idées dans les modernités] {{in lang|fr}}

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[[Category:Montesquieu| ]]
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