Western Civilization_ Volume B_ 1300 to 1815 - Jackson J. Spielvogel [248]
Again, there is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression.
There would be an end of everything, were the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public resolutions, and of trying the causes of individuals.
As seen in this excerpt, what is Montesquieu’s doctrine of the separation of powers? What are the underlying moral and political justifications for this system of government? How was this doctrine incorporated into the U.S. Constitution?
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VOLTAIRE AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT The greatest figure of the Enlightenment was François-Marie Arouet, known simply as Voltaire (vohl-TAYR) (1694–1778). Son of a prosperous middle-class family from Paris, Voltaire received a Classical education in Jesuit schools. Although he studied law, he wished to be a writer and achieved his first success as a playwright. By his mid-twenties, Voltaire had been hailed as the successor to Racine (see Chapter 15) for his tragedy CEdipe and his epic Henriade on his favorite king, Henry IV. His wit made him a darling of the Parisian intellectuals but also involved him in a quarrel with a dissolute nobleman that forced him to flee France and live in England for almost two years.
Well received in English literary and social circles, the young playwright was much impressed by England. His Philosophic Letters on the English, written in 1733, expressed a deep admiration of English life, especially its freedom of the press, its political freedom, and its religious toleration. In judging the English religious situation, he made the famous remark that “if there were just one religion in England, despotism would threaten; if there were two religions, they would cut each other’s throats; but there are thirty religions, and they live together peacefully and happily.” Although he clearly exaggerated the freedoms England possessed, in a roundabout way Voltaire had managed to criticize many of the ills oppressing France, especially royal absolutism and the lack of religious toleration and freedom of thought. The criticism of absolute monarchy by Voltaire and other philosophes reflected the broader dissatisfaction of middle-class individuals with their society. In the course of the eighteenth century, this would help lead to revolutionary upheavals in France and other countries (see Chapter 19).
Voltaire. François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, achieved his first success as a playwright. A philosophe, Voltaire was well known for his criticism of traditional religion and his support of religious toleration. Maurice-Quentin de La Tour painted this portrait of Voltaire holding one of his books in 1736.
Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon//© R_eunion des Mus_ees Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
On his return to France, Voltaire’s reputation as the author of the Philosophic Letters made it necessary for him to retire to Cirey, near France’s eastern border, where he lived in semiseclusion on the estate of his mistress, the marquise du Châtelet (mahr-KEEZ duh shat-LAY) (1706– 1749). Herself an early philosophe, the marquise was one of the first intellectuals to adopt the ideas of Isaac Newton and in 1759 published her own translation of Newton’s famous Principia. While Voltaire lived with her at her château at Cirey, the two collaborated on a book about the natural philosophy of Newton.
Voltaire eventually settled on a magnificent estate at Ferney. Located in France near the Swiss border, Ferney gave Voltaire the freedom to write what he wished. By this time, through