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The Evolution of Democracy:
Part 6:
Voltaire, Montesquieu and the Enlightenment:
February 4, 2002:
In 1715, the model divine right monarch, King Louis XIV of France
died. He was succeeded by Louis XV who was very much out of touch
and inept. Under his rule the French government began to crumble.
With the government unable or unwilling to control the press,
Paris became a headquarters for the radical thinkers and social
critics of the eighteenth century. These intellects, who assigned
their movement the title, "The Enlightenment" set themselves
the task of applying the methods of natural science to God, man,
and society.
A leading figure of the enlightenment was Voltaire. Born in 1694 he was not quite a contemporary of Hobbes and Locke, but he was greatly influenced by their work. He also admired the English forms of government. A pragmatic realist, Voltaire did not produce a coherent political philosophy. He did believe in a government of law and reason. He was also a leading opponent of organized religion, considering it nothing more that superstition. As a Deist he believed that God created the universe, set it in motion, and then abandoned it.
In his thoughts on the public administration, Voltaire insists that "Liberty consists in depending on laws only." With that, he allowed that men were free in Sweden, England, Holland, Switzerland, Geneva, and Hamburg. These places had governments which were based in law. He was a bit iffy about Venice and Genoa, because, "...Whoever does not belong to the body of nobles is despised and condemned." He was quite sure about large Christian kingdoms "...where the greater part of the people are slaves." He does not specifically name France, though his point seems clear.
Concerning the best form of government, Voltaire notes that it depends on who you ask. For example a minister would be for absolute power whereas a baron would rather have a share in the power. A citizen would be for consulting reason, as would a peasant. Voltaire concludes that the best government is one wherein all are equally protected by law.
This rule of law concept, which Voltaire saw being applied in his visits to England later became a principle of democracy. We can see its influence in our American systems of government and jurisprudence.
Voltaire was more of a critic than a philosopher. Like the earlier Greek philosopher, Socrates, he was a gadfly. He made an art form of figuratively buzzing around the establishment and biting it on its huge exposed pompous posterior. Here is a mild example from his essay, "Titles of Honour."
" Some people will give themselves very humble titles, provided they are sure of receiving very honorable ones in return. An abbot who calls himself friar causes his monks to address him by the title of ‘my Lord.' The Pope styles himself, ‘The Servant of the servants of God.' A good priest of Holstein, one day wrote to Pope Pious IV, (To Pious IV, The Servant of the Servants of God); but going afterward to Rome to prosecute his suit, the inquisition threw him into prison to teach him how to write."
Voltaire's vitriolic attacks on the established institutions of his time did not go unpunished. He received two state sponsored stays in the famous Bastille at Paris. This prison was a hated symbol of monarchy and later became one focus of the French revolution when, on July 14 1789, it was stormed by a Parisian mob. This action marked the beginning of the French revolution and July 14 became Bastille Day, a national French holiday.
After his imprisonments, Voltaire opted for prudence and exiled himself to England for three years. There he became conversant with the writings of Locke and Newton, both of whom he greatly admired. He enjoyed the relative freedom of the English life. He remarked that Newton, Locke, and Clarke would have been persecuted in France, imprisoned at Rome, and burned at Lisbon. Samuel Clarke was yet another English philosopher and Deist whom Voltaire admired.
One effect of Voltaire's encounters with the English philosophers was their subsequent popularization on the continent. His name was established in Europe and he wrote considerably and with favor about Newton and Locke.
Another philosopher of the Enlightenment was Charles Secondat, Baron De Montesquieu. Born in 1689 he was a true contemporary of Voltaire. He was perhaps the first to attempt a scientific approach to understanding governments and law. His major political work was "The Spirit of Laws" which occupied some seventeen years of his adult life.
An enemy of despotism, Montesquieu was concerned with the reconciliation of might (embodied in government) and right (human liberty). He divides government into three types. First, a republic is either a democracy where the supreme power is vested in the people or an aristocracy where only part of the people have supreme power. Second, is a monarchy where the monarch governs by known laws. Third, is a despot where there is no fundamental law.
For America, the important concept which came out of his work was his ideas of the separation and balance of power. Here, he extends the thoughts of Locke to define a Judicial branch of government. Thus, he describes three branches of government, the executive, legislative, and judiciary. According to Montesquieu, power should be balance between those three branches. Our founders thought so too.
In my next discussion, I will get into the contributions of
Rousseau to our American concepts of government.
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Democracy.
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