In What Ways Is It Evident That Paine and Publius Were Influenced by Montesquieu and Locke - Essay Example

Political Science 11 December In What Ways Is It Evident That Paine And Publius Were Influenced By Montesquieu And Locke? 1. Introduction American politics have undergone various revolutions with each phase of change implementing democratic elements. It has had a lot of critics especially from activists and scholars. It is in this breadth that some writers in the 18th century took into action their views of the then American politics. This essay has made analysis of the work done by Locke, Montesquieu, Paine and Publius. All were great writers of their time and while they had common themes, which were governance and human rights, they differed in some of their observations. The most influential writers were Locke and Montesquieu, whose works appear to have had great impact on the work done by Paine and Publius. The life of Thomas Paine began on a low note. Being a failure in most of what he had tried in life, he became a radical democrat and started handling matters that emulated to a certain level, the work of his predecessors in the names of John Locke and Montesquieu. He came up with an idea of selling pamphlets and set a historical record of selling many copies. He disclaimed the British government as intolerable, posing as a threat to the natural rights vested on man. Locke ought to speak about union and loyalty to the government; he challenges those of the opinion of honoring any form of government dissolution. He urges them to differentiate between dissolution of the government and that of a society. Nothing is much more important than unity according to Locke. The continual regard for a government with diverse bodies is desired by Locke. The government makes the community or rather they are one. It brings man into an organized system within a political society. By giving an example of destroying a government through its roots (destruction of the societies), Locke is quick to mention that the world cannot stand to witness demolition of one government. Paine, who appears to be activist, seems to have been moved by this observation and opinion from Locke. In his opinion, Paine prefers the state of liberty enjoyment through a society without a government. Through this system, any form of influence can be noted. Locke’s and Montesquieu’s bold and strong analytical nature on national and societal matters could have also probably influenced his life, by molding his boldness of ridiculing the government and the existing leadership. Despite his own initial failures, he has found the ground to lay the basis of his championing; he says “an inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of government is at the time highly necessary; for as never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partially” (Leon and Ferris 16). The message delivered here has a common similarity with the one that was also being articulated by Locke and Montesquieu that “what if the executive power, being possessed of the force of the commonwealth, shall make use of that force to hinder the meeting and acting of the legislative, when the original constitution or the public exigencies require it?” (Leon and Ferris 8). Paine thereby comes out with basics on what is required of a constitution and his fellow writers having passed the same message, it became easy for Paine and Publius to make reinforcement. Likewise to Publius in his writing, the message passed, the way presented, and the content has its roots from the great work done by Locke and Montesquieu. He is so passionate about the way in which the society is handled, how people provide leadership, how the constitution is interpreted to them and the way the government presents itself to the people. This claim can be seen when Publius was saying, “to what expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the constitution?” (Leon and Ferris 33). Publius takes note of the separation of power among the government’s departments. He gives the English structure as well as the American structure, and in this case, his wish is that the rights of the people be safeguarded. The separation of power was mostly articulated by many western writers. It was observed by Kaufman that although the system of separation of power was proving costly, and that the nation could not simply go for constitutional change, they had to find a way of slowly introducing a parliamentary system (6). And therefore, it was a common outcry in the society. The people having surrendered their natural powers to higher authorities deserve to be protected and given a common right, be it from majority group or from minority. The work of Locke and Montesquieu had the same message and as it appears, Publius was building his message from the work of these writers. One such message is the quest for justice among the people, the justice from the rulers and from the fellow citizens. The society is composed of many people of different ages, gender, race and wealth, but all they need is equal treatment. 2. The Differences Paine believes more on the powers of society. He observes that the government unites people through wickedness and that the government is evil, one that restrains the people’s voices. This contradicts the thinking of Locke that the great end of men is uniting together forming a commonwealth and settling themselves into a government thus preserving their property. Another difference exists in the forms of government that each one of them seems to support. Beginning with Montesquieu, he is of the opinion of striking a balance between monarchial leadership and a federal form of governance. He sees the advantage of combining the positive aspects of either side to form commendable governance. Paine is all over criticizing all forms of government and believes more on the powers that may be vested upon the society, and people having the freedom to exercise their natural powers as given to them by God. This will go well with their natural liberty. Publius on the other end finds the federal government more appealing such that there is freedom and equality among all the member states. 3. Themes 3.1 Governance Across all works done by Locke, Montesquieu, Paine and Publius, they were mainly on the government. Locke and Montesquieu begin by saying that the government is divided into three; that is, the legislative arm, the executive or one on national laws, and the other based on the civil laws. They believe in separation of power such that one department acts as a check to the other department. There is a risk if all powers are vested on one body, for if it sleeps off the constitution, then there would be no way of correcting it. Montesquieu is particularly concerned of the powers given to the legislature. According to him, this arm of government needs an oversight in the name of executive. In its absence, the legislature would impose practices that would render the nation into a dictatorial sort of government. Montesquieu goes further comparing the kingdom in Europe and Turkey; the prince in this case has been invested with two powers and has left the other to his subjects. Locke has a similar observation on the role and powers vested on the legislature; “yet the legislative being only a judiciary power to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a supreme power or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the proposed in them” (Leon and Ferris 7). In a slightly different observation, Locke prefers that it is not necessary that the legislative department exist since it is not all the time that the laws are made. Instead, he rallies for investment in executive power. Locke has merged the society with the government and particularly claims that the two are inseparable; when one is removed, it means the other has also been removed. Paine’s observation of government is unique from the rest of the writers. He seems not to believe in the existence of governance; “by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means with which we suffer” (Leon and Ferris 15). Paine does not observe Kingship as a way of governorship, but rather a means of discrimination and division between the kings and the subject. Paine in particular criticizes this governorship style and relates it to the shedding of blood. Publius is concerned with republicanism. He prefers it since according to him, it can be able to withstand external forces and is able to deal with the issues of corruption. From his definition of government, the federal government to which he prefers is the one that is formed by an association of small states to form a union. 3.2 Human Rights Freedom and liberty are the two most discussed forms of human rights by these authors. The common outcry is that most of the rights have been carried away by the government of the day, which instead of being responsible, has ended up oppressing its citizens. Locke advises that there is a need of preventing the executive powers from oppressing. By so doing, the armies should constitute people with the spirit similar to that of other people. Works Cited Kaufman, Art. Separation of Powers—Does it Still Work? Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1986. Print. Leon, Jean and Gerome Ferris. Writing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Cleveland, Ohio: The Foundation Press. Inc., 1932. Print. Read More