PHIL2634 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Monarchy Of The United Kingdom, Montesquieu, Constitution Of The United Kingdom
Document Summary
(5) montesquieu and the american separation of powers. In the second half of the eighteenth century . The tensions with which hobbes and locke had been wrestling could no longer be contained within the old monarchical order. In europe, the development for the first time in history of a sufficiently wealthy middle class meant that monarchy either had to make concessions or face revolt. In britain, the monarchy had never acquired the kind of absolute authority that the french or spanish kings had enjoyed and was able to co-operate with the aristocracy to give ground and accommodate middle-class demands. But overseas the british monarchy behaved in an inflexible way that lead to the loss of the. American colonies over the issues of taxation and representation after rebellion broke out. In france a similarly dogmatic insistence on the unchallengeable nature of royal in 1776. authority provoked revolution a few years later in 1789, partly influenced by the american example.
