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Steven Le

Civics/Mrs. Ross./Ms. Arnold

Period 0

September 16, 2016

Civics

The United States Constitution was essentially built upon the free will of citizens

of the state and revolved around the central idea of preserving individual rights by the

means of taking accountability. The construction of this historical document was built

upon theories of several well-known enlightenment thinkers including Voltaire, John

Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu. Their fundamental theories that were criticized,

scrutinized, and deemed disfigured were ultimately used in todays constitution that the

United States uses a basis of how its well known political reputation is running.

John Lockes presentation to the theory of the right to pursue life, liberty, and

property was what one would consider the greatest of importance set of ideals that

structured modern-day United States of America.That includes the central idea of equal

representation of the government and its people; reasoning that it sets equality in a

systematic approach, and as a result, an organized structure that sets up an ideal

logical society where the synergy of accountability between one another is balanced

and recognized.
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Voltaires ideological role in society played a major role in setting the grounds

that progressed the movement that formed the basis of the United States Constitution.

Although he was not in favor of a democratic society and the Catholic church, he was

favored by many to be an influential activist of civil liberties and represented the voice of

many. In the same manner, Voltaire argued by his definition of freedom is the ability to

set laws that enable political freedom directed to individuals of the state by setting a

functional society in which law is understood. He sought for social reform and believed

that the citizens of the state are entitled to the freedom of speech as well as religion; he

reasoned that the government was set out to protect individual rights and civil liberties.

His approach to the government was a tool to be used as a motive for pro-activeness

and an insight to question the authoritative system of government. He valued the

systematic approach of reasoning and fair trials in order to promote free speech and

justice against the system.

In a similar sense, one of the highly reputed enlightened thinker, Baron de

Montesquieu, played a crucially important role in the progression of the United States

Constitution and brought forth the central idea of balancing authoritative roles of the

government ; reasoning that it sets equality in a systematic approach, and as a result,

an organized structure that sets up an ideally logical society of which one is accountable

for the other. His broad insight of individual freedom was the founding structures of the

U.S. Constitution by implementing his philosophical approach to the individual's position

in society. His theory of separation of powers discussed in his book The Spirit of Laws,

volume 1, mentions how the state of nature of society in his own terms represents the
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motives behind humanities disfigured perception of fear and violence; reasoning that

fear itself causes humans to associate and work together for the well-being of humanity

in order to position the political structure of the government. With that said, Montesquieu

believed in the idea of the church and state separated owing to the fact that he had a

focal mindset of how universal law is a privilege and that it grants individuals the right to

have freedom; he invokes the idea of free will is attainable under natural law rather than

by the state and the church. In a sense, this similar ideal translates into the positional

structure of how the government should run. His justification explained how the

government should be formatted in a way that enables each of its branch of the whole

sum to take each other into account; thus, creating a sense of balance between the

government and preventing the political structure to degrade and transition into an

authoritative tyrannical position. To form a system of checks and balances with each

appropriate roles of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch are

implemented as a means to create balance, accountability, and justice.