What did Montesquieu say about slavery?

Translation: quotations from Montesquieu are quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation; quoted in the anonymous 1777 English translation of the London Complete Works, not his original words.

Fiction: cited Persian Letters passages are the words of fictional characters in an epistolary novel, not Montesquieu's own stated views.

1. WHAT HE SAID (the record)

Record ledger

• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu believed that the state of slavery is, in its own nature, bad and neither useful to the master nor to the slave. He argued that slavery must be accounted unnatural, though in some countries it may be founded on natural reason. [1]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu believed that the state of slavery is, in its own nature, bad. He argued that it is neither useful to the master nor to the slave, as it prevents the slave from acting through virtue and corrupts the master by fostering a lack of moral virtues. [2]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu argued that there is no inherent right to reduce people to slavery, except when necessary for the preservation of the conquest. He believed that slavery should not be perpetual and that conquered people should eventually be rendered capable of becoming subjects. He also stated that the conqueror should always reserve means to restore the conquered people to their liberty. (key quote above) [3]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu distinguished between the servitude of slaves and the domestic servitude of women, arguing that slaves are not part of the family, while women in some countries suffer a form of servitude that he calls domestic servitude. "SLAVES are established for the family, but they are not a part of it. Thus I distinguish their servitude from that which the women, in some countries, suffer, and which I shall properly call domestic servitude." [4]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu said that slavery is more prevalent in Asia than in Europe, and he attributed this to differences in climate and the resulting effects on courage and liberty. He argued that in Asia, the strong nations conquer the weak, leading to slavery, while in Europe, nations are more evenly matched in strength and courage, leading to greater liberty. "From hence it proceeds that liberty, in Asia, never increases; whilst, in Europe, it is enlarged or diminished according to particular circumstances." [5]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in the anonymous 1777 English translation of the London Complete Works): Montesquieu argued that slavery is generally against the law of nature and can only be tolerated in despotic states or in warm climates where people are enervated by heat. He reasoned that men have no right over the liberty of others, and that slavery cannot be justified by war or self-sale, as liberty cannot be surrendered. He also stated that the only just law in favor of slavery was the Roman law making debtors slaves, but even that required limitations. (key quote above) [6]
• BELIEF (undated; quoted in the anonymous 1777 English translation of the London Complete Works): Montesquieu said that polygamy, in places where it is received, may have a foundation to a certain degree, either from the nature of the climate, or the relation which the number of women bears to that of men. He also said that repudiation once admitted ought to be permitted to women as well as to men, based on good reasons. "a custom which M. de Montesquieu does not pretend to justify, in so far as it is contrary to religion; but which, in places where it is received, and, only speaking politically, may have a foundation to a certain degree, either from the nature of the climate, or the relation which the number of women bears to that of men. M. de Montesquieu speaks upon this occasion of repudiation and divorce; and he shows, from good reasons, that repudiation once admitted ought to be permitted to women as well as to men." [7]

What cuts against it

• ACTION (undated): Montesquieu owned enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). This action conflicts with his stated belief that the state of slavery is, in its own nature, bad. [8] (EDITOR'S NOTE)

• BELIEF (undated; quoted in the anonymous 1777 English translation of the London Complete Works): Montesquieu acknowledged that in some climates, particularly warm ones, slavery may be more reconcileable to reason due to the enervation of the body and the resulting need for coercive labor. "There are countries where the excess of heat enervates the body, and renders men so slothful and dispirited that nothing but the fear of chastisement can oblige them to perform any laborious duty: slavery is there more reconcileable to reason." [1]

• BELIEF (undated; quoted in Thomas Nugent's 1750 English translation): Montesquieu argued that in despotic governments, people may sell themselves into slavery because their political liberty is already annihilated. "In all despotic governments, people make no difficulty in selling themselves; the political slavery, in some measure, annihilates the civil liberty." [1]

2. HOW IT APPLIES (reasoning; inference is marked)

1. Montesquieu stated that the state of slavery is, in its own nature, bad and neither useful to the master nor to the slave. [1]

2. He argued that slavery is generally against the law of nature and can only be tolerated in despotic states or in warm climates where people are enervated by heat. [6]

3. Montesquieu believed that there is no inherent right to reduce people to slavery, except when necessary for the preservation of the conquest, and that slavery should not be perpetual. [3]

4. He distinguished between the servitude of slaves and the domestic servitude of women, arguing that slaves are not part of the family. [4]

5. Montesquieu acknowledged that in some climates, particularly warm ones, slavery may be more reconcileable to reason due to the enervation of the body and the resulting need for coercive labor. [1] (inference)

3. HIS TAKE

Record coverage: PARTIAL

The record is silent on Montesquieu's personal experience with slavery in Saint-Domingue and the specific reasons for his ownership of enslaved people. However, his stated principles suggest that he would have viewed the institution of slavery as fundamentally flawed and unnatural, though he acknowledged its existence in certain climates and under certain conditions.

Extrapolation: Montesquieu likely believed that slavery was an unnatural institution that corrupted both the master and the slave, and that it should be abolished wherever possible. He may have viewed the persistence of slavery in warm climates as a product of climate and despotism rather than a moral or natural necessity.

Competing readings: One reading is that Montesquieu's views on slavery were shaped by Enlightenment ideals and a belief in the natural rights of individuals. Another reading is that his personal ownership of enslaved people suggests a more complex and contradictory stance, possibly influenced by the economic and social norms of his time.

Confidence: Moderate. The record provides clear statements on the nature of slavery and its relation to climate and government, but it is silent on Montesquieu's personal actions and the specific reasons for them. The quality of the sources is high, but the competing readings reflect the tension between his stated beliefs and his actions.