Happy 802nd Birthday to the Magna Carta!
Adopted on June, 15th, 1215, the Magna Carta turns 802 today….
The Magna Carta — the “Great Charter of Liberties” that King John of England agreed to and that aimed to limit the Crown’s power — exerted a significant influence on the development of the common law in England and subsequently in the United States.
Although Magna Carta began as a distinctly English statement, its sheer endurance and fecundity over time has served to distinguish it not only as a touchstone of English and American liberties but as a symbol of the liberties of all mankind. It was a major step in the advance toward liberty, and an inspiration for our Founders as they created the United States of America.
In America, a radical shift unfolded between 1774 and 1776, culminating in the Declaration of Independence. There we addressed not the king or Parliament but “a candid World,” justifying our independence not in the name of ancient English rights but of the universal rights of all mankind. As the Declaration plainly states, we dissolved the political bands that connected us to England and instituted new government—“by Authority of the good People of these Colonies.” Where did we get that authority? From no one, save our “Creator.” We were born with it—born free, with natural, unalienable rights to rule ourselves. Thus, the Declaration of Independence became America’s Magna Carta.
Drawing, ironically, on the writings of an Englishman, John Locke, whose ideas infused political thought in America long before independence, we grounded political legitimacy on the consent of the governed, but only if constitutionally limited, leaving us otherwise free. And when we reconstituted ourselves 11 years later, we returned to those principles, stating clearly in the new Constitution’s Preamble that sovereignty rests with “We the People.” We constitute and empower government—by right. Government doesn’t give us our rights: we give government its powers, such as we do, as enumerated in the Constitution we ratified.
