Principles of the American Government

Principles of the American Government
12 September 2002
Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws as an Influence of the U.S. Constitution
Almost all of the framers of the United States Constitution were well educated and well read. It is understandably so that many would have read Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws, a book that deals not only with laws, but also with governments. This book contains many ideas of which include: the separation of powers in a government, why these powers should be separated, and other minor items that influenced the framers of the United States Constitution. Probably the most well known of these ideas, are the separation of powers. Thus it can be concluded that Montesquieu’s main influence to the United States Constitution, would be the idea of having a government composed of three separate powers so as to make sure that their government (the United States) would not become the one that they just got rid of.
The separation of power is an idea that di...