The Revolution of 1215?
The Editor
The Motto of this journal states
that its purpose is, “Defending the revolutions of 1215, 1688, 1776, and 1865
from ‘progressive’ counter revolution.” The revolution of 1215 it refers to is
the sealing of Magna Carta and the events surrounding it. What one might ask
has this to do with the American republic? The answer is pointed to by the
first seal of independent Massachusetts, which depicts a colonist with a sword
in one hand and a copy of Magna Carta in the other.
This is
because, when the Baron’s revolted under the leadership of Archbishop Stephen
Langton against John Lackland a.k.a. bad King John, they set off a series of
events that culminated in, on the one hand, the tradition of common law rights
and on the other, with the creation of parliament. This did not happen all at
once of course, but because under the Great Charter, the king could not tax
except for traditional feudal dues, without the consent of the barons,
parliaments were called regularly starting in 1236.
From the beginning a number of
knights were sometimes called along with the barons. In 1265 representatives of
the towns were called for the first time. Starting in 1295 it became regular
for the commons to be called along with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, for
as King Edward I wrote in his summons, "what touches all, should be
approved of all, and it is also clear that common dangers should be met by
measures agreed upon in common." It was at this parliament that it became
the practice that the King would first tend to grievances before parliament
would give money. In 1327, parliament was the venue in which Edward II was
deposed and Edward III was hailed as king. In 1332 the knights and
representatives of the towns meet together as separate house from the Lords. In
1376 parliament impeached some of the king’s ministers for the first time. The
post of Speaker of the House of Commons was established formally in 1377.
I could go on
but the point is that since about 1295 England has been a self-governing
community with strong elements of democracy that have increased over time. At
the same time a series of English constitutional documents built on the legal
rights enumerated in Magna Charta.
The Great
Charter itself guaranties a number of important rights including, most famously
article 30. “No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized or exiled or
in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the
lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” But that is by no
means all: article 2 and 3 are a restriction on inheritance taxes; article 8
guaranties widows the right not to be remarried without their consent; articles
28, 30 and 31 protect the people from the deprivation of their property without
payment.
These are
rights also protected in our bill of rights, article 6 of which protects trial
by jury and Article 5 which protects against government seizure of property
without compensation.
We often think that no taxation
without representation is an American idea, but article 12 states, “No scutage
not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our
kingdom.” Article 14 says that “for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom
and the assessing of an aid or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by our
letters. Nor was this all to the sole interest of the nobles for the King also
promised in article 15 that he would not, “grant to
anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to ransom his
person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter;
and on each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.”
That is it restricted the robles power to tax as well.
The point
of all this is that the foundations of the American project go back far before
the Declaration of Independence in 1776 or even the Glorious revolution of
1688. To understand our founding documents fully it is necessary to understand
the history behind them. This is especially true of the more undefined
provisions of the bill of rights such as the 9th Amendment, which is
only an “Ink Blot” if one does not know the history of our people.
