Montesquieu and the Constitution

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2023

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

Described in The Federalist as “the celebrated Montesquieu,” Charles de Montesquieu was cited more often than any other author from 1760-1800. In what ways did his writings and ideas help shape the U.S. Constitution and the structure of American government? William B. Allen of Michigan State University, Thomas Pangle of the University of Texas at Austin, Dennis Rasmussen of Syracuse University, and Diana Schaub of the American Enterprise Institute, discuss the political thought of Montesquieu and his influence on American democracy. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. This program was originally streamed live on July 6, 2023, as part of our America’s Town Hall program series. Resources: Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws: A Critical Edition, ed. William B. Allen Dennis Rasmussen, Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders Diana Schaub, Erotic Liberalism: Women and Revolution in Montesquieu’s Persian Letters Diana Schaub, “Montesquieu on the Liberty of Women,” in The Cambridge Companion to Montesquieu Dennis Rasmussen, The Pragmatic Enlightenment: Recovering the Liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire Thomas Pangle, Montesquieu’s Philosophy of Liberalism: A Commentary on the Spirit of the Laws Thomas Pangle, The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws Thomas Pangle, “Considerations on the Romans,” in The Cambridge Companion to Montesquieu Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution
0:07.3	Center and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.2	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan
0:13.9	nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the
0:18.0	Constitution among the American people. This week we're sharing an episode from
0:22.2	our Companion Podcast live at the National
0:24.3	Constitution Center. In this episode we explore the influence of Montezcere on American
0:28.7	democracy. Described in the Federalist as the celebrated Montezce, Charles de Montezcoer was cited more often than
0:35.4	any other author from the 1760 to 1800 by the founders.
0:40.2	In what ways did his writings and ideas help shape the US Constitution and the structure of American government.
0:46.0	William Allen, Thomas Pangle, Dennis Rasmussen, and Diana Schaub joined me for a superb conversation about the political thought of
0:54.0	Montezir and his influence on American democracy.
0:57.4	The conversation was streamed live on July 6th, 2003.
1:01.0	Enjoy the show.
1:12.0	Hello friends and welcome to the National Constitution Center and to this evening's convening of America's town hall. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, the president and CEO of this
1:15.0	wonderful institution. Let's inspire ourselves for the learning ahead by
1:20.4	reciting together the National Constitution Center's mission statement, here we go,
1:25.0	the National Constitution Center is the only institution in America, chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the U.S. Constitution among the American people on a nonpartisan basis.
1:37.0	Friends, it's such a pleasure to convene four of America's greatest scholars of Montezger to discuss his
1:48.9	influence on the founders. I'm so looking forward to learning from them and to sharing their wisdom with you.
1:55.8	Thank you so much for joining and Professor Schaub, let me begin with you. Our initial goal in our introductory thoughts
2:03.0	is to introduce our audience to Montezia's influence
	...

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