STUDY GUIDE: Magna Carta to the Constitution

Study Guide: Magna Carta, Legal Concepts and the Lead-up to the Constitution

The year: 1215

The place: England

Magna Carta, a medieval English document which contains basic principles found in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is written.

The Magna Carta limited the power of English Monarchs, specifically King John, from absolute rule. The Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights and respect certain legal procedures, and to accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. The Magna Carta was the first step in a long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law. 

Only Barons owned land. Land was life – food and natural resources. If you didn’t own land or work for a baron, you starved.

In the 13^th century, monarchs (kings and queens) had almost absolute power over their subjects. The kings were assumed to have a divine right to rule (“The Divine Right of Kings”) and the law was whatever he declared it to be. The only source of power higher was God and his representative the Pope. Religion, politics and power were, to all intents and purposes, a single entity. The monarchs and the Catholic Church needed the support of each other to keep their positions in society.

Land barons (noblemen) owned all the land but the King had absolute power over all of them. He was a murderer, thief – terrible guy.

The barons met and gave the King a list of stuff he had to stop doing (grievances.)

The list became the Magna Carta, which means “Great Charter.”

The most important ideas from Magna Carta:

1. The English church must be free from political interference. (King John and the Pope were now enemies because of an argument, and eventually, the Church became the Church of England, also called The Anglican Church -  in America called the Episcopal Church.)

2. Everyone should have a fair trial, and swift justice. ("Everyone" did not include commoners, until much later.)

3. All must obey the law equally, even leaders.

 KNOW: 

Before Magna Carta, religion, politics and power were one entity.

After Magna Carta, the separation of powers led to the development of new forms of government.

There are concepts, and language, that were later used in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.