How Did The Magna Carta Influence Modern Civilization

On June 15, 1215 we Americans, along with our English, cousins will celebrate the day 800 years ago when English barons, on the fields of Runnymede, first brought the arbitrary reign of a king under the rule of law through a written document, Magna Carta, which is known as one of the most famous documents in the world. The Magna Carta was first drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations of feudal payments to the Crown. It happened on June 15, 1215, in a field at Staines, now a less than lovely suburb of London. The deal that was done there was yet another stage in a long tussle for power between feudal strong-men and their overlord. John had spent most of his financial and political capital trying and failing to hold on to bits of France. He had alienated the clever, ambitious Pope Innocent III’s by refusing to accept the pope’s nominee for Archbishop of Canterbury. He expelled the monks from Canter bury and the pope excommunicated him. He had alienated the barons,

The Magna Carta is one of the most famous and most important documents ever written. It is a phrase written in Latin, and it means GREAT CHARTER. The Magna Carta granted liberties to Englishmen under the rule of King John, in 1215. John signed it under the threat of civil war and reissued it with alterations in 1216, 1217 and 1225. Our own national and state constitutions show ideas and even phrases directly traceable to the Magna Carta.

Though people of the time may not have understood its power, early in its history it became a symbol and a battle cry against oppression. In England, the Petition of Right in 1628 and the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679 looked directly at clause 39 of the Magna Carta, which