Folks around Northwest Arkansas join the rest of the United States Saturday to celebrate the 239th anniversary of the United State's declaration of independence from England. But the rights we embrace and protect weren't the original ideas of the Founding Fathers. Rather, they were inspired by a British document that celebrates its 800th anniversary this year: The Magna Carta.
"The Magna Carta has been the most valuable export of Great Britain to the rest of the world," reads an article on the website of the Magna Carta Trust in England.
Sources
http://magnacarta80…">Magna Carta Trust
http://magnacarta.c…">The Magna Carta Project
http://blog.constit…">National Constitution Center, Philadelphia
http://telegraph.co…">The Telegraph, London
http://archives.gov…">National Archives,Washington D.C.
Magna Carta Timeline
1100 — Coronation of Henry I. Henry’s coronation oath, known as the Charter of Liberties, sought to bind the king to certain laws regarding the treatment of nobles, church officials and individuals.
1215 — Sealing of the Magna Carta.
1264 — De Montfort’s Parliament, convened in defiance of King Henry III and radical in having democratically elected knights and borough representatives from throughout the kingdom. It was the first example of its kind in England.
1679 — The Habeas Corpus Act was passed to safeguard individual liberty, preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. Habeas Corpus is Latin for “you may have the body” — subject to legal examination before a court, or a judge.
1776 — Declaration of Independence. The American Declaration of Independence as penned by Thomas Jefferson was instead an indictment of George III’s numerous breaches of English Common Law enshrined within the Magna Carta, to which the 13th colonies were equally bound. By July 4, 1776, it became the legal justification for the American Revolutionary War that had been raging for over a year.
1948 — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, described as the Magna Carta of this age. Arising from the ashes of World War II and the unspeakable barbarity of the conflict, the declaration set out basic freedoms to which all humans are entitled. It is safeguarded and underwritten by the United Nations and adopted into the laws of almost every country in the world.
2015 — The 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, an occasion to deepen understanding of the crucial role it has played in the development of human rights, democracy and liberty.
— Source: Magna Carta Trust
The Magna Carta inspired framers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to set out due process and other basic rights many take for granted today. Numerous other democratic nations turned to the Magna Carta to write their own constitutions.
"Each man hath a fixed Fundamental Right born with him, as to freedom of his person and property in his estate, which he cannot be deprived of, but either by his consent, or some crime, for which the law has imposed a penalty of forfeiture," reads a May article in the Wall Street Journal.
The Magna Carta is "the greatest constitutional document of all time -- the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot," said Lord Alfred Denning, a celebrated English judge, in 1965.
It all started with England's King John, who was not supposed to be a king. He was the youngest of four sons and rebelled against his father. With the death of his older brothers, he believed he had been granted a "divine right" to rule England and took the crown in 1199. History records John as one of Britain's worst monarchs.
John inherited from his brother lands in the duchy of Normandy in France, but many Frenchmen felt John's nephew Arthur was the legal and proper ruler. In a war against Arthur in France, John kept control of the land. In 1204, France's King Phillip conquered these disputed land rights. John spent the rest of his reign trying to raise money in England to recover Normandy -- taxing his subjects heavily, especially the barons. The methods John and his sheriffs used to collect the money were unpopular and even harsh. In addition, Pope Innocent III, in a quarrel with King John, closed churches and canceled all services, making John even more unpopular with his subjects. Then the king kidnapped family members of the barons who went against his wishes. Other atrocities attributed to him included plotting to overthrow his brother, King Richard II the Lionheart; imprisoning and starving some of his enemies; raping wives and daughters of nobles; arranging the murder of his nephew and rival for power, Arthur of Brittany; charging the barons exorbitant inheritance taxes; imposing large fines for trifling offenses; seizing the lands of the church; and imprisoning and torturing Jews until they paid a bond.
John decided to go to war against the French kings to regain Normandy in 1214, but very few barons in England supplied knights to fight in John's army. John lost the great battle at Bouvines, and his reputation as a military leader was badly damaged. This encouraged John's subjects in England to launch an armed rebellion against their king, whom they also saw as a coward.
In the Middle Ages, the king was the most important man in England, and he made all the laws. The king owned all the land and gave estates to his followers in exchange for their loyalty, knights to serve in his army, money and advice (which he didn't have to follow). The king appointed judges to carry out the laws and resolve disputes. Laws weren't written, so medieval tradition became law set by precedent or "common law" -- a previous judge had ruled in a similar case, so the new ruling followed the old ruling, explained Thomas Pittman, a history teacher at Central Junior High in Springdale.
By 1215, the situation in England was so bad that groups of barons began to meet together to discuss how they could stop the most egregious aspects of John's rule. They drew up a list of demands, but John refused to listen. The barons raised a rebellion. "The barons had captured London, and John found himself in a political mess -- he needed a quick get-out solution," reads a June 15 article in the Telegraph, a London newspaper. John agreed to meet with the barons and bishops to discuss peace.
The result was the Magna Carta -- also known as the "Articles of the Barons" -- a program of reform and a peace treaty for John.
NAN Our Town on 07/02/2015