This month, June 2015, marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, a document created by King John in 1215. This document makes sure that everyone who lives in the United Kingdom has different rights, even if they are not Kings or Queens. In 1215, the normal citizens did not have a lot to say and could not vote or participate in democracy, such as we do today. Instead, the King had all the control and the people could only follow him - as you can probably imagine, people were tired of this and they decided to change it. A few barons, which were people that helped the King run the country but were controlled by him like everyone else, worked together to force the King to sign the document which gave everyone more freedom. When it was released, the Pope decided that the document did not have any power as King John had been forced to sign it. This led to a civil war in the United Kingdom. In the end, King John's son, King Henry III decided to let the Magna Carta stay, but it was edited and changed 3 times in the 13th century as different Kings came to power.
The Magna Carta gives you and everyone else in the UK several rights. Among the most important of these is the right to a trial. This means that when someone commits a crime they have the right to be judged according to what happened, and the King or Queen cannot simply decide to give them a really harsh punishment if they are having a bad day. This is very good of course, as it makes sure that our society is fair. However, the Magna Carta does have some limits; it only applied to ‘free men’, which meant that most people who lived in this country at the time were not helped by the document as they were peasants who were not free. The document was mostly written to make the Barons happy, but the barons ruled over other people and were sometimes unfair too. So it did not help the normal British person, until many years later when courts started making sure that everyone was judged the same way.
Another thing the Magna Carta did, was make sure that the King has to obey the law too. This is very important, because it means that a King or Queen do not create laws that are silly or not fair, as they would be affected by them too. This is good for everyone who has to live under the rules of the country.
Even though the Magna Carta did not help everyone in the UK when it was first made, it did some really wonderful things! It made sure that the King and Queens can be held responsible for what they do, it makes sure that you and I don’t go to jail if the King doesn’t like us, and it was the basis of many other very important documents, such as the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence.
Image 1: http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-185439/King-John-signs-the-Magna-Carta-on-June-15-1215
Image 2: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/magnacarta.htm
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