How Did Montesquieu Influence The Us Today

Did you know that without the Enlightenment the US and even The World wouldn’t be like how it is today? The Enlightenment was a new period of thinking among many educated Europeans that began during the late 1600s. Some of the really great people that influenced the US include Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Abigail Adams. Montesquieu focused on the separation of powers that we see here in the US today. Voltaire contributed to Religious Tolerance and Freedom of speech, which are two things we the in the US. Abigail Adams also helped start women having as equal rights as men do. Montesquieu helped shape the US as it is today by separating the government’s power into three sections, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. The legislative Branch makes the laws that we have today, making the laws more fair or better. The Executive Branch enforces the laws that the Legislative Branch makes. And the Judicial Branch interpreted the laws. By doing this, Montesquieu hoped that the government would become less corrupt and make better decisions. In TCI Chapter 34 section 5 is states “Like John Locke, Montesquieu was concerned with how to protect political …show more content…
Freedom of speech lets everyone speak freely without getting arrested for saying bad things about the government or their laws. Religious tolerance or Freedom of religion is worshipping what or who you want to worship and if anyone treats you differently because of it they can be prosecuted or put in jail. In TCI chapter 34 section 6 it states that “He championed religious tolerance… Voltaire also spoke out for the right of free speech.” Voltaire’s ideas inspired and influenced American political thinkers, such as Thomas Jefferson and his ideas were put into the US Bill of Rights. After Voltaire’s ideas were put into the Bill of Rights, he changed the US