Homework Question on The Relevance of the Magna Carta, John Locke, and other Ancestors.
- Paragraph 40 of the Magna Carta reads, “To no one will you sell, to no one will you deny or delay right or justice.” Through this statement, all citizens were given equal access to the English courts without having to pay exorbitant fees.
- Source: The Constitution of the United States.
- Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters.html .
- Find and compare at least two other concepts in the United States Constitution that are similar to those in the Magna Carta.
- Why do you think the Framers of The Constitution found these ideas from the 500 year old English document relevant to the constitution they were drafting?
- John Locke in his “The Second Treatise of Government (1690)” suggests that all men are in the state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possession and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.
- Do you think that Locke’s theory influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution?
- Be sure to explain and discuss the so-called Lockean proviso and Locke’s spoilage principle.a
Homework Answer on The Relevance of the Magn Carta, John Locke, and other Ancestors.
United States of America incorporated various ideas and clauses from different schools of thoughts. The Magna Carta document which means ‘The Great Charter’ was created by subjects of King John of England in the year 1215. This document came to be of strong influence in the framing of the United States of America’s Bill Of Rights in 1791(Medina,2003). Other influences came from John Loche an Englishman of the 17th Century among others.
The freedom of the church which is one of the principle of the Magna Carta is similar to that of the Americas Bill of Rights in the 1st amendment which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (United States& Justice learning. Org, 2005).
The principle of taxes is also related. In the Magna Carta, it is the responsibility of the parliament to levy taxes but not the king’s. In America it is the Congress that levies taxes, not the president (Holt, 1965). In addition, the concept of free trial for everyone in Magna Carta is similar to that associated with the judicial branch of US constitution. Magna Carta document was found useful by the framers of the Americas constitution because the issues of liberty and rights of individuals as addressed by the document coincided with what happening in America as they had just attained independence was therefore wanted to make their government effective.