A report on Constitution of the United States, Constitution and The Spirit of Law

Page one of the officially engrossed copy of the Constitution signed by delegates. A print run of 500 copies of the final version preceded this copy.

Constitution of the Year XII (First French Republic)

De l'esprit des loix, 1st edn 1748, 2 vols.

Signing of the Constitution, September 17, 1787 (1940 by Howard Chandler Christy)

Constitution of the Kingdom of Naples in 1848.

Dates the 13 states ratified the Constitution

Detail from Hammurabi's stele shows him receiving the laws of Babylon from the seated sun deity.

Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by Aristotle.

Third volume of the compilation of Catalan Constitutions of 1585

Closing endorsement section of the United States Constitution

The Cossack Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, 1710.

United States Bill of Rights
Currently housed in the National Archives.

A painting depicting George Washington at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution

Constitution of May 3, 1791 (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). Polish King Stanisław August (left, in regal ermine-trimmed cloak), enters St. John's Cathedral, where Sejm deputies will swear to uphold the new Constitution; in background, Warsaw's Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted.

Presidential copy of the Russian Constitution.

Salmon P. Chase {{refn|group= lower-alpha|The Chase Court, 1864–1873, in 1865 were Salmon P. Chase (chief Justice); Hon. Nathan Clifford, Maine; Stephen J. Field, Justice Supreme Court, U.S.; Hon. Samuel F. Miller, U.S. Supreme Court; Hon. Noah H. Swayne, Justice Supreme Court, U.S.; Judge Morrison R. Waite}}

William Howard Taft {{refn|group= lower-alpha|The Taft Court, 1921–1930, in 1925 were James Clark McReynolds, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., William Howard Taft (chief justice), Willis Van Devanter, Louis Brandeis. Edward Sanford, George Sutherland, Pierce Butler, Harlan Fiske Stone}}

Earl Warren {{refn|group= lower-alpha|The Warren Court, 1953–1969, in 1963 were Felix Frankfurter; Hugo Black; Earl Warren (chief justice); Stanley Reed; William O. Douglas. Tom Clark; Robert H. Jackson; Harold Burton; Sherman Minton}}

William Rehnquist {{refn|group= lower-alpha|The Rehnquist Court, 1986–2005.}}

It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution.

- Constitution of the United States

Montesquieu's treatise, already widely disseminated, had an enormous influence on the work of many others, most notably: Catherine the Great, who produced Nakaz (Instruction); the Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution; and Alexis de Tocqueville, who applied Montesquieu's methods to a study of American society, in Democracy in America.

- The Spirit of Law

The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution.

- Constitution

He pleads for a constitutional system of government with separation of powers, the preservation of legality and civil liberties, and the end of slavery.

- The Spirit of Law

In his The Spirit of Law, Montesquieu argues that the separation of state powers should be by its service to the people's liberty: legislative, executive and judicial.

- Constitution of the United States

It is notable in that it established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.

- Constitution

2 related topics with Alpha

Portrait by an anonymous artist, 1753–1794

Montesquieu

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French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.

Montesquieu's 1748 [[:File:Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des loix (1st ed, 1748, vol 1).pdf|De l'Esprit des loix]]

Lettres familières à divers amis d'Italie, 1767

He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world.

His anonymously published The Spirit of Law (1748), which was received well in both Great Britain and the American colonies, influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States in drafting the U.S. Constitution.

Separation of powers

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Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches.

George Washington at Constitutional Convention of 1787, signing of U.S. Constitution

In The Spirit of the Laws (1748), Montesquieu described the various forms of distribution of political power among a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary.

Under this influence it was implemented in 1787 in the Constitution of the United States.

Constitutions with a high degree of separation of powers are found worldwide.