One way in which the writings of John Locke and of Baron de Montesquieu are similar is that they

Question

One way in which the writings of John Locke and of Baron de Montesquieu are similar is that they

1.supported the idea of governments having limited powers

2.resulted in the development of mercantile economic systems

3.promoted the ideas of the Protestant Reformation

4.strengthened the divine right claims of European monarchs

Answer 1

When discussing Locke, or Montesquieu, the idea of the “social contract” has to be mentioned. According to Dictionary.com a “social contract” is “the voluntary agreement among individuals by which,….organized society [government] is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members”. In other words, a  social contract is the establishment of a government by a given society.

Locke’s and Montesquieu’s writings are similar in that they address the social contract, in the form of the establishment of a limited [restricted] government based on the consent of the governed.

Locke tends to address the ideological basis of a government—natural law, natural rights, consent of the governed---in the formation of a  government with restrictive powers; while,  Montesquieu focuses on one of the components in the structuring of a limited government—separation of powers/checks and balances.

To strengthen the ideas of the a social contract that would provide for a government based on the “consent of the governed” and be limited in its authority, YET, protect the rights of the people,  Montesquieu, proposed the separation of the government’s powers. That is, the division of the government into three branches---legislative, judicial, and executive branches. According to Montesquieu, each branch would be a “check” on the other so that no one branch would gain “absolute” authority within the government. 

Not only would the systems of “separation of powers” provide “checks-and-balances” against one branch becoming too powerful, but it would also guard “the People” from “factions”, or “groups” in gaining control of the government.