King John, pressured by English barons, reluctantly signs Magna Carta, the Great Charter, on the Thames riverbank, Runnymede, June 15, 1215, as rendered in James Doyles A Chronicle of England. This month marks the 800th anniversary of one of the most important documents in Western history and civilization - the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. I feel kinda fortunate to be able to celebrate the 800th anniversary of this auspicious event, and as someone who can appreciate the significance of the Great Charter it'll be fun observing all the ceremonies commemorating its signing.
This thread makes me feel old. I noticed in the painting that King John seems to be unarmed while everyone else are armed with swords and the guy standing to the right behind King John seems to have some kind of a club just waiting to whack King John over the head if he doesn't sign the Magna Carta.
My goodness, how old are you, Apacherat - 700? Funny you mention that. When I first looked at that image I noticed that the guy standing across from John has a kinda psychotic look in his eyes.
Do they even teach the significance of the Magna Carta in America's class rooms today ? Back before they dumbed down our education system in America, I remember in the 7th grade spending almost an hour on the Magna Carta. Again in high school time was spent studying the Magana Carta. Before they dumbed down the requirements for a BS or BA in college, you were required to have a few credits in history to get that diploma no matter what your major was and again the Mgana Carta was brought up. So the other day after seeing this thread I got curious and asked my nephews and niece what is the Magna Carta ? All are in their 20's. One thought it was a cigar. The other nephew thought it was a wrist watch. My niece thought it was a bottle of wine or brandy. So I asked one what is the Monroe Doctrine ? Well he seems better informed, he said that he has heard Vladimir Putin mentioning the Monroe Doctrine lately when giving Obama a lesson on geopolitics.
It does appear that History and Civics aren't getting the time and attention they deserve, which I find profoundly disturbing. If you don't know what the Magna Carta is, you're functionally illiterate in those two subjects, and that doesn't bode well for the future. An uninformed public is easy prey for unscrupulous government officials who are only interested in their own power and control over others.
Exit polling during the 2008 elections showed that most of the voters who voted for a community organizer to be POTUS were either uninformed or misinformed. It's pretty bad when the President of Russia has to lecture the President of the United States on the Monroe Doctrine.
And people wonder why the government keeps getting bigger, more intrusive and more expensive while our individual freedoms diminish...
It's Magna Carta weekend, and the celebrations have begun: Magna Carta 800th Anniversary | Celebrating 800 years of democracy http://magnacarta800th.com/events/ Monday the 15th will be the 800th anniversary...
Wrong! The US Constitution was written to be as far different from English law as possible. The Founders went to a system that already existed in North America - the Iroquois Federation.Do some research and you will find out I'm correct.
A brief article on yesterday's commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta: Tributes for Magna Carta from a fairer world on 800th anniversary http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...00th-anniversary/story-fnb64oi6-1227401067924
