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The Impacts Of The Magna Carta In The 12th Century

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The late 12th century was plagued by one of the most corrupt governments of all known history. The government of England was unorganized and corrupt due to the nearly unlimited power held by King John. In the early 13th century the people had enough and turned on the king forcing him to sign one of the most important documents to democracies today, the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta is a document that challenged the authority of the king, forcing him to the rule of the law and protecting his people from abuse. With all that being said it is hard to argue that the Magna Carta is not one of the most important political documents of known history in England that also influenced the United States and other democracies.
Firstly, the magna carta greatly impacted England’s democracy. The Magna Carta forced the King to follow the law of the land which limited his power. Matt Elton states that “the year of Magna Carta, 1215, {was} when an English ruler was first subjected to the law” (Elton). This is stating that the King is subjected to his own law, meaning that he is not higher than it. This was super important because it took a lot of power from the king and gave it back to the people. Another impactful thing on England was the 39th and 40th clause of the Magna Carta which forced, maybe not fair trial, but at least a trial. This can be supported by a quote from Nigel Saul “Clause 39 says that no free man shall be arrested … without judgment of his peers or against the law of the

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