As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease

[marmar]

As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease
Published: July 2, 2026 8:46am EDT

Robert A. Ballingall
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Maine


(The Conversation) As the 250th anniversary of American independence approaches, many people in the U.S. are deeply concerned about the country’s future.

A recent poll by Elon University found that 69% of respondents “believe the signers of the Declaration of Independence would feel more disappointment than pride about modern American democracy.” Confidence in public institutions is historically low, and the most recent Harvard Youth Poll indicates that just a quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds “feel hopeful about the future of America.”

....(snip)....

Montesquieu and the American founding

Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, was an 18th-century philosopher and aristocrat whose book “The Spirit of the Laws” caused a sensation when published in 1748. His ideas shaped the American founders. At the Constitutional Convention, only the Bible was quoted more often.

....(snip)....

Montesquieu was especially celebrated for his account of how and why political power needs to be separated into branches. But behind this now familiar idea was another that is less remembered: Montesquieu’s theory of liberty inspired the founders’ own understandings of this core concept of American politics.

....(snip)....

Liberty cannot be a matter of “doing what one wants,” Montesquieu warns. What if what one person wants threatens others? Then one person’s freedom to act limits everyone else’s. No one can feel secure unless everyone lives under laws that regulate what each may do. Montesquieu understood liberty in terms of this confidence or “tranquility” because it amounts to being free from the arbitrary will of others. ....................(more)

https://theconversation.com/as-the-us-turns-250-a-forgotten-founding-influence-helps-explain-its-current-unease-284066

[CBHagman]

1. Thank you for posting this.

I don't recall reading about Montesquieu, and I appreciate having the additional perspective this essay offers.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Montesquieu was a bit of a lesser light of the Enlightenment

Last edited Thu Jul 2, 2026, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

but is certainly mentioned along with Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.

I don't know if it's taught much in universities anymore, but Modern Political Thought from 1500 to the present is a foundational course. The rather rare course American Political Thought is quite valuable because we had so many side-branches that had their moment but fell short. I think they don't teach it because it's too controversial. Imagine the wet panties on the Right if Lincoln or capitalism are questioned.

Could probably catch either of those courses on Coursera, but they'll be the middle-of-the-road variety.

[h2ebits]

3. Thanks for my awakening. . . .

[SergeStorms]

4. This right here.

"No one can feel secure unless everyone lives under laws that regulate what each may do."

When the very wealthy are allowed to buy the government and laws they want, everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
That's exactly where we are currently.