Hi all! This week I have been researching Magna Carta’s influence on the American government. It has been argued that Magna Carta had an even more monumental influence on the United States’ founding documents than it has had on the British government. Most of Magna Carta’s importance to the U.S is its assertion that individual citizens have fundamental rights that cannot be infringed upon by the government. The U.S. Bill of Rights asserts this importance as do many of the U.S. state constitutions which incorporate declarations of citizen’s fundamental rights. Some of the guarantees in these documents that descended from Magna Carta include a citizen’s right to a jury trial and freedom from unlawful searches.
This past couple of weeks I have started finishing up this project. I have been condensing my research and adding it together and have started putting it into a PowerPoint. I am planning on making a short informational video with a condensed version of my research as well as a more thorough and complete PowerPoint. These will give a brief overview of the history of Magna Carta, the importance of Magna Carta to the British government, the importance of Magna Carta to the U.S. government, as well as a section detailing how the rule of law connects to Magna Carta. Both of these will be used as educational resources by the Center for Teaching the Rule of Law.