Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, on Monday, June 15, we will celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, a document that revolutionized the world and is the foundation for the freedoms that so many take for granted today. It is impossible to overstate the significance of that day at Runnymede in 1215 when King John of England declared that everyone, including the King, was subject to the rule of law; and as a result, constitutional government was born. Magna Carta is Latin for ``great charter,'' and it was so named because of the document's protracted length. Only later, did the world realize how visionary the name truly is. Most of the 63 clauses granted by King John dealt with specific grievances of a group of barons relating to his rule, but that framework for the relationship between the King and his subjects initiated the concept of freedom under law. Clause 1 states: First, that we have granted to God, and by his present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's elections--a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it--and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III.…”