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Where modern democracy started

A place of politics and peace Part 2 of 3

By Alan RussellPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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The straight path leading to the start of modern democracy

“Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the 15th day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign (ie 1215) (Extract from the closing paragraph of the English translation of the Magna Carta held at The British Library).

I HAD CLOSED the gate on an acre of what used to be English land that would forever be America; the John F Kennedy Memorial. I still felt flat and empty. Not because of the weather but as a result of seeing the memorial stone in such a bad condition. Onward I trudged along the edge of the meadow referred to in the Magna Carta. Each step eliciting a soggy squelch to mark my progress backwards through the 748 years that lay between the of the assassination of the President and the signing of the Magna Carta. Another gateway, another notice board and once again I was stepping on to American soil. No passport control, no immigration checks and no visa checks. Just a transfer from England’s wet and muddy land to a paved straight path leading up to the Magna Carta Memorial, a modest rotunda built in 1957 and financed by the American Bar Association (ABA), surrounded by lawn and open to daylight; what there was of it on the day of my visit.

The path from the meadows is straight but its straightness belies the route through history from the signing of the charter to what we recognise as modern democracy. It does not portray the moments in time when it was knocked off course by revolutions, wars and military coup de tat. It’s angular paving slabs do not portray the lives that have been lost and continue to be lost in the seemingly elusive pursuit of democracy as the individual setts on the steps to the Kennedy memorial portray the progress of pilgrims from darkness to enlightenment.

Unlike the acre of land gifted to America on a freehold arrangement for the Kennedy Memorial the piece of land I was now on is on a 999-year lease; rent free I presume. When the lease comes up for renewal the ideas and ideals the memorial commemorates will have died disproving Kennedy’s assertion that:

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” (John F Kennedy 1917-1963)

The rotunda is no more than twenty feet high and ten feet in diameter. The roof is supported by six slender columns and in the centre is a stone column with the clearly engraved words “To commemorate Magna Carta symbol of freedom under law”. Inlaid in the floor around this central column are triangular tiles of white stone. Each bearing an engraving commemorating when representatives of the ABA came over from America to refresh their allegiance to those early principles enshrined in the charter.

Its modesty is outweighed by the enormity of how that single act has helped to shape what we know as modern democracy. The Magna Carta did not mention voting rights. It did not mention what the three branches of government would be. That is the legislative, executive and the judiciary and how they should function with each acting as a check and a balance on the others. It did not even contemplate the concept of what we now refer to as a “constitutional monarchy”. Instead, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court in Washington it was “a way of settling a feudal dispute”.

When it was signed the Magna Carta was an agreement between King John and his barons to end long feudal disputes about property, taxes, provision of soldiers for wars, inheritance rights and the reasonableness of fines.

The part of the document that made it such an important part of modern democracies, either by accident or design where it states:

“We have also granted to all free men of our realm, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below.”

Those rights, privileges, obligations and freedoms were for “all free men”; not just the aristocracy who had coerced King John into signing the document but all free men. It established the foundations of the rule of law, habeus corpus and how no man; not even the monarch was above the law.

History does not record the exact location where the Magna Carta was signed. It is unlikely the memorial marks the exact location of where the signing took place as the quote at the top of this piece clearly refers to a “meadow”. A spot deliberately chosen because there was space enough to keep the different factions at a safe distance. Also, being a meadow and most likely a water meadow the state of the ground could have been soggy enough to have discouraged the factions from charging at each other should things at the signing ceremony not go to plan.

WHAT I DON’T understand is that the Magna Carta is such an important document for those who believe in the principles of democracy. It was written here in England, in Latin, and is revered around the world in any places where there is there is democracy and anywhere there is a burgeoning hope of democracy. American lawyers make a pilgrimage to this site. Nelson Mandela quoted from it during his trial in the early 1960’s. Eleanor Roosevelt used its basic principles as a template for the design of the principles of the modern United Nations. John Kennedy referred to it during his 1958 Senate election campaign when he said there should be “an urban Magna Carta” that would contain seven principles to help in the fight against poverty. Yet, here in Britain, especially in England its very place of inception it is rarely revered or quoted from.

FROM WHERE I was standing looking back across the meadows and towards the Thames, that silent flowing witness to the flow of history, cars had their headlights on as they sped along the A308 road between Staines and Windsor. The gloom of the afternoon was melding into early evening and I had just forty five minutes to visit The Jurors and return to the car park before the exit gates were closed for the night. I did not want to be cold and sleepless in Runnymede especially knowing there was a comfortable hotel room waiting in Staines.

"In short, Magna Carta has transcended its original time and place and has become an enduring worldwide symbol of liberty and the rule of law." William Hubbard President of the American Bar Association 2014-15.

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About the Creator

Alan Russell

When you read my words they may not be perfect but I hope they:

1. Engage you

2. Entertain you

3. At least make you smile (Omar's Diaries) or

4. Think about this crazy world we live in and

5. Never accept anything at face value

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