Remember Jeff Unger?  That night after the meeting at lunch, Jeff kept thinking about the "letter of resignation" everyone was counting on him to write. He wanted it to say just the right things, and most important he wanted to let George know why so many of his employees were unhappy. Nothing else had got the "king's" attention, but THIS would.

Impact of Magna Carta
On the Declaration of Independence

Jeff Unger looked down at his desk piled high with papers and asked himself, "Where should I begin?" Then he thought to himself "What did Thomas Jefferson do?"   Jefferson's fellow Virginian Mr. Lee had stated in the resolution he presented,   that the colonies "Of right ought to be free and independent states." Why did the colonists have a RIGHT to resign from the Crown? "Why?  Because King George III had broken the English Common-law that should have applied to all the people who lived in the colonies." Jeff thought to himself.

It was pretty much the same thing as the issue facing him and his co-workers at Royal, Inc.   "King George" had broken every promise that had been made to his employees, which was why they had now got together to quit and start their own company. But how can you prove something like that? How do you tell the boss that the fact that you are leaving is justified?  For Thomas Jefferson the proof was in a centuries old document called the "Magna Carta".

The Magna Carta

"....here is a law which is above the king and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it."

Winston Churchill, 1956

The words were translated from Latin words meaning "GREAT CHARTER". The Magna Carta was written in 1214 and further developed into its restated and commonly accepted form in 1215. Signed by King John of England who had agreed to the original charter a year before, the Charter of 1215 included a preamble and 63 basic laws for the government of England. It wasn't an agreement King John signed willingly, in fact, he tried to have it outlawed a year later claiming he had signed it "under duress".

Such Revolutionary War era principles as habeas corpus and the wrongness of taxation without representation drew their roots from English Law of the 17th century that was based upon the Magna Carta.  King George had violated these laws...in effect placing his decisions above the law of the land, and this gave the Colonists not only the right to seek freedom, but a responsibility to do so.

Not only did the Magna Carta become a "springboard" for Jefferson's revolutionary Declaration of Independence, the concepts of LAW as supreme (above even kings or legislative bodies) were drafted into the United States Constitution by James Monroe. The Bill of Rights, and specifically the 5th and 6th Amendments, find their heart and even their verbiage in the words of The Great Charter. Born in England in the 13th Century, the Magna Carta is arguably American as it is British.

Well, here I am on a button again.   I guess you remember what this means.  In case you forgot, this means that there is something in our ARCHIVES if you want to take the time to visit there.  The archives contain the full text of the 1215 version of the Magna Carta.  It's pretty long and may not be of interest to many people, but if you are here to study the Magna Carta and want to read what it says, click on me before continuing the tour.

Otherwise Click on the Arrow below to continue the tour!