Boston is a city brimming with rich cultural history as the birthplace of democracy and liberty in the U.S. As we have written before, this city was a focal point in the Revolutionary War, during which time the thirteen colonies banded together to fight against the rule of England; even prior to that, Boston was rooted firmly in a tradition of respect for individual freedoms.
It is fitting, then, that one of the only remaining copies of the Magna Carta, a foundational document of great importance to the future development of democracy, is currently residing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We attended its unveiling, along with many others eager to catch a glimpse of this famed artifact, and were taken with the weighty significance of such a small document.
This year, we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the enactment of the Magna Carta – and today, it is still highly relevant to us. Chief Justice John Roberts, who spoke at the ABA Annual Meeting earlier this month, said in his speech: “The events of 800 years ago marked the commencement of a major undertaking in human history. We mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta because it laid the foundation for the ascent of liberty.”
Let us reflect on a brief history of the origins of the Magna Carta: starting in the early 13th century, English barons under the rule of King John began to chafe under perceived injustices – high taxes and poorly-conceived wars that resulted in the loss of lands among them – and formed a loose coalition to rebel against him. They confirmed this arrangement and demanded that King John follow the Charter of Liberties, a written proclamation concerning the fair treatment of English nobles issued by King Henry a century earlier and, until that point, largely ignored by subsequent sovereigns.
The barons’ claims were made less for the benefit of all and more for their own personal gain. Yet there was something novel in their revolution: they were not seeking to overthrow or usurp the king with a successor, as had always been the case before; rather, they based their unrest on the tenets of his government that they viewed as oppressive and unfair. Despite King John’s frequent attempts to win them back – whether through negotiation or by force – the barons held strong in their belief that this charter heralded a golden age, under which their liberties would be protected.
If this sounds at all familiar, it is because parallels to this early event can be traced throughout history, and perhaps none more closely than here in the United States. The rebellion of the barons and their push for increased freedoms under the adoption of the Magna Carta – effectively a declaration of their intent to remove themselves from the strict control of the king – can be seen repeated in the colonists’ growing antipathy towards another English king, King George, and their adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Even more significant is the precedent set by the Magna Carta for unity against injustice across previously independent groups. Within the feudal system of the early medieval era, barons and their estates typically functioned independent of each other – much like the colonies that would become the United States. The events of the early 13th century so spurred the barons to action that they formed this coalition in pursuit of their common goals, a standard to be followed several centuries later.
Following its annual meeting, the American Bar Association will embark on a yearlong commemorative campaign for the Magna Carta, including a restoration of the monument at Runnymede, the site of King John’s agreement and official sealing of the charter. We can think of no better way to celebrate the storied history of this document – for its influence certainly did not end at Runnymede in 1215. The Magna Carta’s introduction of the foundational tenets of democracy – the idea that a group of individuals have a voice in their liberty – has carried across the centuries and still inspires us today. This is why we must zealously defend the tenets of democracy that are laid out in our own Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution: they come from a long tradition of protecting individual rights and liberties.