montesquieu developed the system of checks and balances.
montesquieu developed the system of checks and balances.
who developed the system of checks and balances?
montesquieu
polish enlightenment, while sharing many common qualities with the classical enlightenment movements of western europe, also differed from them in many important aspects. much of the thought of the western enlightenment evolved under the oppressive absolute monarchies and was dedicated towards fighting for more freedom. western thinkers desired montesquieu's separation and balance of powers to restrict the nearly unlimited power of their monarchs. polish enlightenment, however, developed in a very different background. the polish political system was almost the opposite of the absolute monarchy: polish kings were elected and their position was very weak, with most of the powers in the hands of the parliament (sejm). polish reforms desired the elimination of laws that transformed their system into a near-anarchy, resulting from abuse of consensus voting in sejm (liberum veto) that paralyzed the commonwealth, especially during the times of the wettin dynasty, reducing poland from a major european player to the puppet of its neighbours. thus, while men of the enlightenment in france and prussia wrote about the need for more checks and balances on their kings, polish enlightenment was geared towards fighting the abuses stemming from too many checks and balances.
enlightenment in poland
federalist no. 51, titled: "the structure of the government must furnish the proper checks and balances between the different departments", is an essay by james madison, the fifty-first of "the federalist papers". this document was published on february 8, 1788, under the pseudonym publius, the name under which all "the federalist" papers were published. federalist no. 51 addresses means by which appropriate checks and balances can be created in government and also advocates a separation of powers within the national government. this idea of checks and balances became a crucial document in the establishment of the modern u.s. system of checks and balances. one of its most important ideas, an explanation of check and balances, is the often quoted phrase, "ambition must be made to counteract ambition."
federalist no. 51