The Charter of Liberty — The Signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
O Thou, that sendest out the man
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine,
Who wrenched their rights from thee!
What wonder if in noble heat,
Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
And in thy spirit with thee fought fought—
Who sprang from English blood!
Alfred Tennyson (Condensed)
Magna Carta! The Great Charter of the liberties of Englishmen!
At Runnimede, the freemen of England through the action of their Barons, forced King John to sign and seal the Magna Carta. His tyrannous power was torn from him. He was forced to pledge himself to violate no longer the rights and privileges of English freemen.
For, from times remote, human rights and liberties, protecting them from oppression by rulers, had been theirs by laws and by common consent.
About a hundred years after the signing of the Magna Carta, the great principle, that English freemen should not be taxed without representation, was established.
When King Charles the First broke his promises to respect the rights of his subjects, he was tried and executed. When King James the Second governed in despotic manner, exercising what he believed to be the “divine right of Kings,” he lost his throne.
What has this to do with America and William Pitt? Everything!
During the reigns of the Stuart Kings, large sections of America were explored and settled by English freemen, who came to America to escape persecution, and to enjoy English Liberty which at that time they could not possibly have had in England.
The Stuart Kings believed in “divine right,” which means that the King is the Lord’s annointed, and that neither Parliament nor People may question any of his acts; and that no matter how cruel or tyrannous a King may be, the People must submissively obey him.
The Magna Carta and the English Constitution protect the English People against this doctrine of “divine right.”
So, when during the reign of these Kings, men and women fled from England to find Liberty and refuge in America, they brought with them their ancient institutions, the rights and privileges guaranteed them under the Magna Carta.
There were other Englishmen equally courageous, equally liberty-loving, who came to seek their fortunes and build homes in the New World. They, too, brought with them their rights and privileges.
These English pioneers hewed their way through the savage wilderness. Many of them were massacred by Red Men, while their homes were burned; some of them were carried into captivity and tortured. Yet the great body of undaunted English settlers, resolutely kept on pushing their frontiers westward. They laid out farms and plantations, they built villages and towns, they founded churches and schools. They obtained charters from far away England, confirming their rights. And through God’s blessing they prospered, and became strong and rich.
Other liberty-loving folk, the Dutch, settled in great numbers in what is now New York and New Jersey; while many settlers from different parts of Europe, came to the New World to build homes for themselves and their children.
The very air of America breathed freedom. The magnitude of the country and the difficulties of pioneer-life helped to invigorate, expand, and make indomitable those ideals of English Liberty which the first settlers and frontiersmen had brought with them.
When King George the Third inherited the British Crown, he was unable to understand the free spirit of Englishmen. And he was far from realizing its tremendous growth in the New World.
He taxed the Americans without representation. He placed a standing army in the Colonies, without their consent. He blockaded the Port of Boston to force her to submit to his unjust laws. In some cases, trial by jury was abolished. These are some of his tyrannous violations of the rights and privileges of English freemen.
The People of America, in indignation, petitioned the King for redress.
There was no redress.
So the People of America rose in arms; and, in the true spirit of Magna Carta, they issued the Declaration of Independence.
Now, we shall see what William Pitt had to do with all this.