Montesquieu (I. Iannotti)

My name is Charles de Secondat Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu and I was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1689 to a fairly wealthy family. After I went to college to study science and history I became a lawyer in the local government. Around this time my father died in 1713 and I was placed under the care of my uncle, Baron de Montesquieu. Three years later in 1716, my uncle died and graciously left me his fortune, his office as president of the Bordeaux Parliament, and his title of Baron de Montesquieu. I then became a member of the Bordeaux and French Academies of Science and studied the laws and customs and governments of the countries of Europe. I first made a name for myself and gained fame in 1721 by writing the Persian Letters, which criticized the lifestyle and liberties of the wealthy French as well as the church. However, my book On the Spirit of Laws, published in 1748, was my most famous work. In the work I outlined how I thought the government would best work and benefit the people. I mainly advanced the idea of separation of powers. The present day U.S. actually ended up using my ideas of a legislative, judicial, and executive branch to run their own government. I also established the idea of a way to keep all powers equal, this is now called checks and balances. All of my works were meant to better the French government during my time period of exactly 1689 to 1755 and it is a great accomplishment that my ideas are being successfully used today.