ABSTRACT
Charles-Louis de Secondat, who would become known as Baron de Montesquieu, was a French writer and intellectual who played an important role in the creation of the US Constitution. In 1713, upon his father's death, Montesquieu became head of the family estates in Bordeaux. Montesquieu followed a conventional pattern for a member of the nobility. His Bordeaux parliamentary duties were primarily judicial. In 1721 Montesquieu anonymously published The Persian Letters, a fictional account of two travelers from Persia who encounter mysterious and comical customs on a trip to Paris. In 1728 he was elected to the French Academy and began three years of traveling in Europe and England. Montesquieu's work focused on a rational and liberal reform of governmental power. He advocated tolerance and political openness. Montesquieu had a major influence on the framers of the US Constitution. He was liberally quoted by federalists such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to defend their formation of a three-part government.
