Montesquieu09

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Most of the people listening to this have probably never heard of Baron de Montesquieu, but he actually played a pretty important role in the development of the modern world. He was born to a noble French family in 1689, and held public office as a councilor in the French port city of Bordeaux in 1714. From here, he began his journey through the politics Europe, which ended with many great writings, including a massive collection of information about most of the governments of Europe. In 1716 he became the president of the council of Bordeaux. He held this office until 1728, when he left his hometown to travel Europe. In 1721 he wrote his first great work, the satirical //Persian Letters.// This was one of his more popular writings and is said to have brought him immediate fame. In 1726, he began to write his most famous work, //The Spirit of Laws,// massive book that took him 24 years to complete. In the making of this book, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and some of Asia studying the governments of many different areas. //The Spirit of Laws//, was recognized by many greater figures throughout the course of history and was even used in the framing of the U.S. constitution. It specifically explores monarchies and republics, and gives detailed information explaining how these systems function, the art and architecture of these kinds of governments, the social classes involved, the wealth of these governments, and the effect of these governments on the surrounding areas. This book is considered to be the best of his life's work, and has been compared to da Vinci's Mona Lisa in terms of dedication. The Persian Letters, although less known, is sometimes considered to be his most important work since it and came earlier in his life and was his first truly famous writing. In these letters, which were supposedly written by Persian travelers in Europe, he criticized the French government, along with the French schools, the French currency, the French social systems, the French army, and basically everything else that you can put "French" in front of. In conclusion, although he isn't the most well known philosopher in the world, he still was able to make a huge impression on the world through his works. His life and works, particularly the "The Spirit of Laws" shows us that, with enough hard work and dedication, you can influence the course of history long after your death.


 * influential political philosopher and satirist of the 18th century. A
 * born into a noble family in 1689
 * held public office in Bordeaux, a port city in Southwest France in 1714
 * In 1721 he wrote his first successful work, the satirical Persian Letters.
 * In 1726 he began to travel Europe to study the governments and social systems of different areas
 * in 1750 he completed his The Spirit of Laws, a huge collection of political and social ideals.
 * his work was recognized by the many Europeans, and was relied on by the framers of the U.S. constitution
 * I have also read on wikipedia that he developed the idea of checks and balances, but I was unable to confirm this with a more reliable source

__sources__
 * http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0833835.html
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_the_Laws
 * The World Book Volume M 2009 edition