A herança filosófica de Montesquieu em Thomas Jefferson na busca por uma América justa

Abstract

Montesquieu is one of the political philosophers who contributed most to the ideological debate that lit the flames of the American Revolution, mainly due to the political studies proposed in the work The Spirit of Laws [1748]. The specificity of how just forms of government are, or at least should be, raised the political knowledge of their time, improving the concept of liberty and justice of classical philosophy, which made it clear to the world how the laws should be in a republic. or in a monarchy. Accused of contradicting himself for defending the possibility of freedom in an aristocratic monarchy and republic, Montesquieu never defined in his work what would be the best way to govern himself, but only pointed out how the rules and principles of each of the forms should be. of government. He pointed out that the culture and customs of a certain people must be preserved for freedom to prevail. The objective of this work is to point out a certain influence of Montesquieu on Thomas Jefferson, which was one of the theoretical pillars of the American Revolution. Jefferson drank from Montesquieu's wisdom and, on several occasions, repudiated the attitudes of England during the beginning of the revolutionary debates (1774-1776). The American pointed out several crimes of the English monarchy, taking advantage of Montesquieu's theorization about a just monarchy, and pointing out how England acted against its own constitution to the detriment of the Americans, which, in itself, legitimized the oppressed to refute the despotism sedimented in the American colonies. It can be concluded that Montesquieu reverberated in the theoretical foundation of the American Revolution, as Jefferson's claims basically appealed to the foundations of the just State, as pointed out by Montesquieu, aiming to preserve the political freedom of the people and the moderation of the government. In this sense, Jefferson's writing of the republican constitution of Virginia of 1776 is significant, whose reading and interpretation, however, must be done in conjunction with the American declaration of independence, in which Jefferson does not pronounce himself in favor of any specific form of government for the future United States of America. Thus, it was possible to show that Jefferson oscillates between a monarchist vision and a republican vision during the years 1774-1776, basing such a transition of thought and ideological position, mainly, in the work of Montesquieu.