Cord Byrd: “Today is a very special anniversary. One will not find it noted on most calendars. Although it lacks the familiarity of…”

“Today is a very special anniversary. One will not find it noted on most calendars. Although it lacks the familiarity of the anniversary of the writing of the Constitution, for example, it is a day well worth remembering. The 15th day of this month deserves our attention for one very fundamental reason which is quite important to this Republic and to those of us in this Chamber. It marks the birth of the idea that ours is a government of laws and not of men, and that no man, no man is above the law. Seven hundred and eighty-five years ago, on June 15, 1215, English barons met on the plains of Runnymede, on the Thames River near Windsor Castle, to present a list of demands to their king. King John had recently engaged in a series of costly and disastrous military adventures against France. These operations had drained the royal treasury and forced King John to receive the barons' list of demands. These demands--known as the Articles of the Barons--were intended as a restatement of ancient baronial liberties, as a limitation on the king's power to raise funds, and as a reassertion of the principle of due process under law, at that time referred to in these words, 'law of the land.' Under great pressure, King John accepted the barons' demands on June 15 and set his royal seal to their set of stipulations. Four days later, the king and barons agreed on a formal version of that document. It is that version that we know today as Magna Carta.”