Magna Carta Research Paper

879 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the importance of the magna carta

The medieval era was a time in which there was high monarch and very little power to the people. A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty (having full authority) is nominally embodied in a single individual. England needed a new form of government due to the circumstances that this high monarch put them through. During this period one of the most important historical events occurred which was the signing Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was a document that has a tremendous impact on England; the government and the people. This document not only changed the way the government is set up, but there is no longer an absolute monarch.
King John was the King of England during the time period of A.D. 1215. He acquired land in France by his father Henry II through inheritance. His Father Henry II passed away and it was then that his heir John took over. King John in many people's eyes was a king who exploited and abused the traditional revenue. Due to the fact that he was constantly battling France trying to recover the land France took away from him because they thought of him as a weak king, England began to lose money; money that was coming in through taxes from France was no longer available. The fact that John could not gain the land in France and was losing money angered him. He then decided that if he could not gain the land back which he lost he was not going to keep losing money so the King decided to raise the taxes on his people. Furthermore, this angered the Feudal Barons which were noblemen of the lowest rank. They were livid because the past kings in England would have to consult a group of 25 Barons when it came to matters that were important to the country. The barons who began the establishment of this documen...

... middle of paper ...

...ke the decisions for them; people were given a choice. In addition, in history this document was what founded the first legal rights of people other than the king. The Magna Carta established the principles of a limited government.
Magna Carta was a document that impacted England in tremendous ways. This Charter created by the barons diminished the power that the monarchy possessed in England. It established the idea that even the king, being a royal, had to abide by the rules and laws which the charter set up. In like manner, this document brought the idea that a new form of government can be established. Even though there was still a reasonable amount of monarchy in England it was not much of a problem as it had been before. The fact that a completely different and distinct type of government was formed because of the creation of the Magna Carta is astonishing.

Show More
Related

  • Aristotle And Plato's Influences On The Constitution

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    The framers looked at documents from the English government, such as the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, to sculpt their government. The Magna Carta limited the king’s power and stated that citizens had certain rights. This meant that the king had to recognise the citizen’s rights, and couldn’t imprisoned or arrest citizens unless convicted of a crime, and they had legal rights, and could have a trial by jury. The Magna Carta is significant because it was one of the most important democratic documents in history. It was important because it said that everybody was subject to the law, unlike a dictatorship, oligarchy, or monarchy. It set up a parliamentary democracy in England, and strongly influenced the American Bill of Rights. Likewise, the English Bill of Rights further restricted the powers of the king. The English Bill of Rights gave everybody certain rights; of these where were the right to trial by jury, no unusual, cruel, or unjust punishments, the right to own a gun, and citizens had to be charged with a crime before they could be sent to prison. The English Bill of Rights was influential to the American Constitution, because in the Constitution, the framers included a Bill of Rights outlining the rights of all citizens. The American Bill of Rights was heavily influenced by the English Bill of Rights. Of these were the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial, and citizens couldn’t be put in jail without being charged with a

    Read More

  • Comparing Magna Carta And John Locke's Second Treatise On Government

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Magna Carta provides protection for English citizens by limiting the power of the government. This protection can be explained through a parable: Sam Purcell of Sheffield is building a house for his family. On a chilly, November morning the noble that is in charge of Sheffield starts taking wood from Sam’s temporary shed, (where he is building his house,) for his castle. The Magna Carta makes this illegal without the consent of the owner, (31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle, or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner. King John of England undersigned the Magna Carta; this shaped the start of England’s constitutional monarchy. Instead of being an absolute monarchy, King John and his descendants had to abide the laws listed in the charter. Without the Magna Carta, the United States might exist without the constitution or might not exist at

    Read More

  • Foundations of US Government

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Magna Carta was the first document in which English subjects to force English king into power; granting and protecting the subjects’ rights. This was important since the king at the time could do anything that he so desired. However, in practice, this English legal charter did not limit the king’s power. The Magna Carta is the beginnings of American freedom. It is also the foundation of the American Constitution, reflecting English freedom and the power of the English government.

    Read More

  • Magna Carta Australia Analysis

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    First of all, it was achieved by force. A promise brought about by coercion is rarely considered valid, least of all by the person who was forced to make that promise. King John wanted to keep his crown and was willing to sign any piece of paper in order to do that: he had no intention of keeping the promise his signature gave. In fact, through the pope, John rejected it almost immediately. All this is not to say that rejection and ignorance of this charter makes it completely insignificant, after all, it has remained in politics for hundreds of years. Instead, it is to show that at the time the document was written, the Magna Carta was not legally binding.

    Read More

  • King James II: A Reflection of Autonomy and Responsibility

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...Bill of Rights, a document that would create a great nation, and be the model for the base of another, guaranteed that the people of England would be autonomous and responsible for themselves. They no longer had to accept the whims of an absolutist. They would have a voice.

    Read More

  • The Goals of the Declaration of Independence

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... clear that government is subject to the people that it governs. The British realized that they could not write a document that would meet the demands of the colonists (Thomas 334). It was time for the colonists to write their own document. This document, the Declaration of Independence, was not only a stand against Britain; it was a stand for freedom.

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On The Middle Ages

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Middle Ages was a time of knights, the lords they supported, and the kings and queens they worked under. A time the Roman Catholic Church took over the European landmass like rapid fire, and when moral codes designated the manner in which people acted. Almost most influential of all was feudalism. At the time of the medieval period, the social, political, and economic lives of Europeans were defined by feudalism.

    Read More

  • Historical Characteristics In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    This disagreement between the nobles and the king continued until the Magna Carta was created.

    Read More

  • English 1301 Research Paper

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I thought that I did not have to worry about being prepared for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not going to be enough for college. Writing is not just something that I will use in English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate to professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be something that did not come easy to me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to get my thoughts down on paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of writing that was required ended up helping me in so many ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me so much for college and real life.

    Read More

  • English Revolution Research Paper

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the Thirty Years’ War, Europe was shaken by a sequence of civil wars and rebellions. One of the most famous struggles was the English Revolution. The revolution was a civil war between the king’s supporters and the parliamentary forces in England. The English Revolution was caused by the struggle between the king and Parliament regarding authority, which eventually led to the development of the constitutional monarchy.

    Read More

  • How Did Feudalism Began In The Middle Ages

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Feudalism lasted for about 600 years in England. Some strong points in the system of feudalism were that a King could rule an entire land with the help of nobleman. He would not have to fear the invasion of barbaric groups. The Magna Carta was another positive outcome of feudalism. The Magna Carta was a law that was passed in 1215 that stated that the King was not above the law in.

    Read More

  • Ancien Regimes

    1843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite the difference in religion, the Stuarts of England also believed in the divine right of kings in that they answered only to God. This idea of divine right and absolute power in Britain is what eventually sparked the Glorious Revolution in England as served as a starting point for their ancient regime, a time where monarch and Parliament worked together. Unlike France, England’s ancien regime was not a time absolute monarchy. In fact the time in Britain that constituted the ancient regime was after absolute monarchy was ridded from the

    Read More

  • British Empire Research Paper

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    British Empire The British Empire was so strong!!!! The Egyptian Empire left a great impact in the civilization!. Sentences that we hear usually when people talk about the past, but do we really know what an empire is??. An empire is a group of countries ruled by a ruling power, so basically an empire is the controlling of one or more states by another.

    Read More

  • The Middle Ages From 1066 To 1485

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Middle Ages encompass one of the most turbulent periods in English History. Starting with the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest - when William the Conqueror effectively took all of the lands from the Saxon English and gave them to French nobles. The English Middle Ages then saw the building of the great English castles, including the Tower of London, which helped the Normans to retain their hold on England. The start of the Crusades and the knights of the Middle Ages, including the founding of the Knights Templar. The Domesday Book and the Magna Carta. The Kings and Queens of the Middle Ages including Richard the Lionheart and great Plantagenet Kings from Henry II (1154-1189) to Edward III (1327-1377). The Hundred Years War between England and France. The Medieval Kings and Queens of the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York and the Wars of the Roses. The Middle Ages Feudal System and the terrible Black Death which really did plague the period of the Middle Ages.The Middle Ages 1066-1485

    Read More

  • Essay On Magna Carta

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...(4) Sources: (1) http://www.lawteacher.net/administrative-law/essays/the-magna-carta-and-english-law-administrative-law-essay.php (2) http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/magna_carta.htm (3) http://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.htm (4) http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/CommonLawCivilLawTraditions.html (5) http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/ (6) http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-1_u-105_t-279_c-929/causes-and-effects-of-the-magna-carta/nsw/hsie/introduction-to-democracy/democratic-development (7) http://www.historyextra.com/feature/magna-carta-turning-point-english-history (8)

    Read More

More about Magna Carta Research Paper

Open Document