The Magna Carta and the English Civil War.
By Frank G.
The Magna Carta was a sort of medieval times declaration of independence. At least, the concept is similar... Not so much, really. The people of England were sick of King John ignoring their rights, and just doing whatever he wanted. Because he was king right? He could do what he wanted because he had a military. But the people got angry at him ignoring their rights, so they went to him (military included) and said “You’ll sign this document we have written, or well, we have got the army to back us up.” The document was a set of rules that applied to everyone, including the king. The document was drafted by Archbishop Stephen Langton along with some of the most powerful barons in England, and contained various laws, some new, some old, and some taken from older England documents. The purpose of the Magna Carta was to limit the kings power to make laws (and more importantly to stop him from evading laws), and thus protect the peoples rights.
The point of the Magna Carta was to show the king that nobody was allowed to ignore human rights, and that nobody was free from them either. It changed the way we see human rights, because, well it should make sense that one person (regardless of status) shouldn't be free of human rights, or be able to exempt him or herself from the power of the law.
The English Civil War happened because the new king, King Charles, wanted to go to war with France and Spain but he didn't have the money to do it. So he went to parliament and asked for some money. Parliament agreed but said they wouldn't pay for all of it because he would be treating people unfairly, since they would have to raise taxes. Because of this, he disbanded parliament and forced people to pay him anyway. This is the point where he begins ignoring human rights and the Magna Carta that we spoke of earlier. Once that all went south, he pulled the Parliament back together and asked them for help. They said that they’d help him, only if he signed a document they drafted detailing how he would no longer ignore peoples rights. He signed it but once he had the money he disbanded them again and didn’t follow the document he signed. After that he ruled for 11 years ignoring peoples rights as usual, and then people had enough and went to war. The sides, the Cavaliers, and the Roundheads. The Cavaliers were only on the kings side because they were his military, and the Roundheads were against him for obvious reasons. Lead by a man named Oliver Cromwell, the Roundheads took down King Charles, and publicly executed him. Of course, after executing him, Cromwell took over as king of England. He then disbanded parliament (again) and placed England under military rule. He ruled like that up until his death, and then his son took over, and attempted to rule the same way his father had.
In the end, both put together, the Magna Carta worked for a while, but the kings kept stealing power back from parliament. Good plan, but overall it wasn't entirely worth it.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUVnpe8uffs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/magna_carta.htm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/
http://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.htm
http://www.lordsandladies.org/magna-carta.htm
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/declaration-of-independence.html
http://magnacarta800th.com/speeches/relevance-of-magna-carta-to-human-rights-in-the-21st-century/
http://www.magnacarta.com/content/history
http://sen.parl.gc.ca/nkinsella/english/HumanRights-e.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/english_civil-war.htm
http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture7c.html
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars16011800/tp/English-Civil-War-An-Overview.htm
The English Civil War happened because the new king, King Charles, wanted to go to war with France and Spain but he didn't have the money to do it. So he went to parliament and asked for some money. Parliament agreed but said they wouldn't pay for all of it because he would be treating people unfairly, since they would have to raise taxes. Because of this, he disbanded parliament and forced people to pay him anyway. This is the point where he begins ignoring human rights and the Magna Carta that we spoke of earlier. Once that all went south, he pulled the Parliament back together and asked them for help. They said that they’d help him, only if he signed a document they drafted detailing how he would no longer ignore peoples rights. He signed it but once he had the money he disbanded them again and didn’t follow the document he signed. After that he ruled for 11 years ignoring peoples rights as usual, and then people had enough and went to war. The sides, the Cavaliers, and the Roundheads. The Cavaliers were only on the kings side because they were his military, and the Roundheads were against him for obvious reasons. Lead by a man named Oliver Cromwell, the Roundheads took down King Charles, and publicly executed him. Of course, after executing him, Cromwell took over as king of England. He then disbanded parliament (again) and placed England under military rule. He ruled like that up until his death, and then his son took over, and attempted to rule the same way his father had.
In the end, both put together, the Magna Carta worked for a while, but the kings kept stealing power back from parliament. Good plan, but overall it wasn't entirely worth it.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUVnpe8uffs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/magna_carta.htm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/
http://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.htm
http://www.lordsandladies.org/magna-carta.htm
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/declaration-of-independence.html
http://magnacarta800th.com/speeches/relevance-of-magna-carta-to-human-rights-in-the-21st-century/
http://www.magnacarta.com/content/history
http://sen.parl.gc.ca/nkinsella/english/HumanRights-e.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/english_civil-war.htm
http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture7c.html
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars16011800/tp/English-Civil-War-An-Overview.htm