How Did The Magna Carta Influence The Constitution?

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The Magna Carta, or Great Charter, was created in 1215 in England ("Magna charta and," ). King John was on throne and after a falling out with the Pope over who should be the archbishop of Canterbury, was excommunicated. In order to get back in the Pope's good graces, he was required to pay money to the Pope. Further, King John desired to lands he had lost in present day France. In order to pay the fees and wage war, King John imposed heavy taxes on his subjects. The English barons fought back, forcing a meeting with the King at Runnymede near Windsor. At this meeting, King John was coerced into signing the Charter which protected some of their basic rights against royal actions ("Magna charta and," ).
The Magna Carta was the first constitutional text and one of the most important documents on the path to democracy. The reason why the Magna Carta was so important in terms of the founding of the United States was that the Founding Fathers used many of the principles first codified in the Magna …show more content…

In the idea of the document demanding that authority respect certain individual rights, the basis of the Bill of Rights can be seen. At the same time, this helped to develop the antifederalist position that the Constitution must be seen as a shield against government encroachment. “The Magna Carta's assertion of habeas corpus is another example of how the document played a role in the formation of the U.S. Constitution” (Connecting the magna, 2014). “In developing the idea that individuals must know why the details in the accusation of wrongdoing, one sees the basis for the fifth and sixth amendments to the U.S. Constitution" (Connecting the magna, 2014). The notion that individuals possessed a sense of legal equality to the even the wealthiest and powerful in society is another aspect of the document that is seen in the U.S. Constitution, in that equality is built within the law ("Connecting the magna,"