The Magna Carta in America

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does a document written in 1215 in England have to do with the United States? The Magna Carta has supposedly influenced foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

In this episode, Don is joined by Eleanor Janega, the new co-host of our sister podcast, Gone Medieval. Together, they explore the influence of this medieval document on the United States.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Joseph Knight. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	January 20th, 1941. These days the radio normally broadcasts tales of war
0:08.9	raging in Europe, but today it's big news from the home front.
0:13.0	Today, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is being inaugurated as president for an unprecedented third term.
0:20.0	In his address, he talks about the need to keep democracy alive in the United States and around the world.
0:26.0	The Democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history.
0:31.0	It is human history. It is human history. It permeated the ancient life of early
0:36.3	peoples. It blazed anew in the Middle Ages. It was written in the Magna Carta.
0:43.4	The Magna what?
0:45.7	The Magna-Karda.
0:47.2	Hmm.
0:48.2	Now what has that medieval English document got to do with the United States of America. Greetings listeners, this is American History Hit and I'm your host, Don Wildman.
1:13.3	Welcome.
1:14.5	June 15, 2003, which passed about a month ago as I speak,
1:19.6	just marked another anniversary of an age-old document scribed with quill pen upon parchment, one which many say was
1:28.3	fundamental to the rule of law in the United States, essential in the thinking and legal grounding of our nation.
1:35.1	But I'm not speaking of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or the Bill of Rights
1:40.1	or any of the amendments to the Constitution, although again many would source those
1:44.0	documents to this earlier one. I am speaking of course of the Magna Carta, written
1:49.3	over 800 years ago in 1215 presented late upon a table in Runamie to England to a
1:56.4	disgruntled English region King John who was forced by the threat of civil war
2:01.3	to broker a peace with rebellious English barons.
2:04.9	That would entail him signing off on a document written by their side that held within it certain
	...

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