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HistoryWiz
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Pulitzer
Prize winning Author Joseph J. Ellis says in this new biography
that Americans see their first president on dollar bills,
quarters, and Mount Rushmore, but only as "an icon--distant,
cold, intimidating." Ellis gives us a fresh portrait.
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More Fascinating Facts From the History Wizard's
Archives
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| Magna
Carta |
Find
out more about the Magna
Carta at the National Archives
Translation
of the Magna Carta |
King
John of England agreed, in 1215, to the demands of his barons
and
authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta be prepared
on
parchment, and publicly read throughout the realm. This was
the foundation document of English and American freedoms.
There
are, however, some common misconceptions about famous Magna
Carta. It was not actually signed by King John. In fact it
was not signed by any English monarch until Queen Elizabeth
II signed it at a ceremony at Runnymede in 1965. King
John probably could not write, but indicated his acceptance
by affixing the Great Seal.
The
Magna Carta also did not guarantee individual liberties. It
was a treaty between the nobility and the King and protected
the feudal rights of the noble class. It was much later
that the rights of Englishmen were "read into" the
document. |
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