Joplin, MO (SNS) – A presentation examining “Magna Carta at 800 Years” will be offered at 10 a.m. Monday, June 15, in Room 205 of Webster Hall at Missouri Southern State University.
Presented by Dr. Paul Teverow, a history professor at Missouri Southern, it will examine the document’s origin, its impact and continued relevance today.
“A lot of people have heard of Magna Carta, which was a contract between King John and his most prominent subjects, known as barons,” said Teverow. “It established limits on the power of the king. It made it clear that he was not empowered to take what he thought he needed and was not at liberty to simply fine people without going through established legal procedures in the court.”
Although a failure in the short run (given its annulment and the resumption of civil war), the Magna Carta established basic principles of government that would have a lasting legacy.
“When some Englishmen began establishing colonies in America, they brought with them some of those basic ideas, such as the link between taxation and consent,” said Teverow. “Some of the Revolutionary leaders expressly referred to Magna Carta when explaining their grievances against Britain.”
Echoes of the document can be seen today, from Parliament and Congress to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Teverow will offer the presentation to students enrolled in the Political Science 120 class, but the public is invited to attend.
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