Charles Louis de Secondat (1689-1755), Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu, was a French political thinker, author, and judge whose writings had a deep influence on Liberalism. Unlike Arnold, Montesquieu had a more relative view of culture and human nature; he argued that political systems should reflect the cultural principals of a given human society. Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (1748) advocated the separation of governmental powers, a doctrine which had a major influence on the U.S. constitution.
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