Many people living in the United States like to think that our founding fathers thought about the basic construction of our entire system of government. This is really not the case; Charles-Louis Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu thought about the system of checks and balances as well as the three branches of government. The entire framework of our Constitution is based on what Montesquieu thought during the Age of Enlightenment. The purpose of the three branches is to ensure that no one person or group of people is greater than the others. Montesquieu wanted to form a government where the people would have a say in what happened and where there would not be a single person responsible. The system of checks and balances was to reinforce what he was trying to do. Make sure that one branch can prevent another from making a bad choice for the country. This system of checks and balances is primarily there to prevent one branch from abusing the other or making decisions that the people do not want. Montesquieu argued that to protect the nation's rights and security from destruction by law; autonomous bodies must possess individual powers to slow the natural tendencies of an absolute monarchy. Basically, Montesquieu thought that to escape from an absolute monarchy and govern oneself; you must protect the rights of your country and stop the destruction of your country by law. He believed that human beings could solve society's problems by using their ability to reason. Montesquieu believed that people should participate directly in their government and not follow what a king or dictator said. That the people of the country should decide what laws they live by and what their freedoms are. He also believed that people's ability to reason meant...... middle of paper ...... without his contributions to the Enlightenment period, our country might have turned out to be the opposite of what it was. it is today. I think that without Montesquieu's contributions to government, our world would not be where it is today. Thanks to this one person, our country is created where it is the people who live there who decide what happens to them. The people are responsible for their own system of government; putting them in charge of their own lives. The most important thing about Montesquieu was that he wanted to find a way where people who knew how to reason would be in charge. He wanted to find a way for people to be responsible for their own lives and no longer just be puppets of their dictator. He wanted to make sure that because everyone could reason, everyone had the opportunity to freely express their opinion. What he “enlightened” in our society is our government.