Home > History Fact Finder > Government and Politics - What Is The Magna Carta?

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

What is the Magna Carta?

The Magna Carta ("great charter" in Latin) is an important document in the history of British government. Angry English noblemen and churchmen forced King John (also called John Lackland; 1167–1216) to approve the charter on June 15, 1215. The Magna Carta ensured personal liberty and asserted the rights of the individual, stating that: "No freeman [citizen] shall be arrested and imprisoned, or dispossessed [deprived of property], or outlawed, or banished, or in any way molested [physically assaulted]; nor will be set forth against him, nor send against him, unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, and by the law of the land." The statement about "lawful judgment of his peers, and by the law of the land" is usually interpreted to mean that the Magna Carta guaranteed the right to a trial by jury—that is, the right to be tried for a crime in a court of law on the basis of evidence and judged guilty or...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Ancient Empires
   1. Why was the Thutmose family important to Egyptian history?
   2. Was the Mayan Empire the most advanced early civilization in the Americas?
   3. When was King Tut's tomb discovered?
   4. How did the Aztec and Inca Empires compare with the Mayan Empire?
   5. Who were the most important rulers of the Roman Empire?
   6. Why was Julius Caesar murdered?
   7. Did Nero really play his fiddle while Rome burned?
   8. Why was Constantine I called "the Great"?
   9. What was the Byzantine Empire?
   10. What was the T'ang dynasty?
   11. What were the contributions of the Ming dynasty?
   12. Who were the great African kings?
   13. Who was Hannibal?
2. European Empires
   1. What was the Carolingian Empire?
   2. Why is Charlemagne considered one of the great leaders in history?
   3. What was the Ottoman Empire?
   4. Who were the Habsburgs?
   5. Why were King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain so powerful?
   6. Did Lucrezia Borgia earn her notorious reputation?
   7. Who were the Romanovs?
   8. Who was Peter the Great?
   9. Who was Catherine the Great?
   10. What are England's royal houses?
   11. What was the Domesday Book?
   12. How did the House of Tudor originate?
   13. Why is Henry VIII so famous?
   14. Why did Queen Elizabeth I have an entire age named after her?
   15. Who was Mary Queen of Scots?
   16. Was King George III really insane?
   17. How did the House of Windsor originate?
   18. Which British monarch has ruled the longest?
   19. What is the Magna Carta?
3. European Governments
   1. Why was Oliver Cromwell important to British history?
   2. When was the British Parliament founded?
   3. What was the Bill of Rights of 1689?
   4. Did Marie Antoinette really say "Let them eat cake"?
   5. What is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?
   6. Why do historians draw comparisons among Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, and Alexander the Great?
   7. Was the Holocaust really directed by the Nazi government?
   8. Who were the most prominent leaders of the Soviet Union?
   9. How was the Soviet Union formed?
   10. What was detente?
4. United States Government
   1. Why is the Declaration of Independence important?
   2. Why were there two Continental Congresses?
   3. Did George Washington really have wooden teeth?
   4. Why did John Hancock go down in history as the notable signer of the Declaration of Independence?
   5. What was the Articles of Confederation?
   6. Who wrote the U.S. Constitution?
   7. Was the U.S. Constitution originally written in German?
   8. Which were the original thirteen United States?
   9. What is the Bill of Rights and why was it added to the U.S. Constitution?
   10. Who determines whether a law violates the liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
   11. How are amendments made to the U.S. Constitution?
   12. What amendments have been made to the U.S. Constitution?
   13. Why does the president of the United States give a State of the Union Address?
   14. How were the Southern states brought back into the Union?
   15. What was Reconstruction?
   16. What were carpetbaggers?
   17. What were scalawags?
   18. How were Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt related?
   19. What were the "fireside chats"?
   20. Why was Eleanor Roosevelt called the "people's first lady"?
   21. Who popularized the term "Iron Curtain"?
   22. Why is the Kennedy presidency called "Camelot"?
   23. How many U.S. presidents have been assassinated?
5. Political Groups
   1. Who are considered the Founding Fathers of the United States?
   2. What was the Kitchen Cabinet?
   3. Who were the Know-Nothings?
   4. Who were the Whigs?
   5. How did the Republican Party begin?
   6. How did the Democratic Party begin?
   7. What was the League of Nations?
   8. How was the United Nations formed?
   9. When did the United Nations begin its work?
   10. Why was Mohandas Gandhi called "Mahatma"?
   11. What is the Palestinian Liberation Organization?
6. Political Scandals
   1. Why were impeachment proceedings held against U.S. President Andrew Johnson?
   2. What was Teapot Dome?
   3. What happened at Watergate?
   4. What was the Iran-contra affair?
   5. Why were there impeachment proceedings against U.S. President William Clinton?

1. George Washington