Magna Carta Is Sealed
June 15, 1215
Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. In 1215, King John ruled England with ruthlessness, spending lavishly on wars, taxing relentlessly, and imprisoning anyone who disagreed with him.
After 16 years of misrule, a rebel faction of England’s most powerful feudal nobility decided they’d had enough. The barons captured London, and on June 15, 1215, forced King John to accept a document that would become the cornerstone of human rights: the Magna Carta.
Meaning "Great Charter" in Latin, the Magna Carta contained 63 clauses pertaining to a variety of medieval customs. Crucially, it stated that "no free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way... except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land," which effectively restrained the absolute power of the king.
This radical document met staunch opposition in a world where monarchs were considered anointed by God, and England soon descended into civil war. But the Magna Carta survived the conflict. It became the bedrock of English law and the inspiration behind some of humanity’s greatest expressions of freedom, including the U.S. Bill of Rights and the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights.
