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Magna Carta Argumentative Essay

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Topic Sentence 5: Historians see King John as a ruler with positive and negative qualities. At the beginning of his reign, the lives of the people under him was a life of no freedom of choice. Their homes, clothing, food, and other needs were met if King John gave his consent. As his rule continued and more people were unhappy with their living situation, he chose to allow the Magna Carta to be used towards a better life for his people.
Topic Sentence 6: Three clauses written in the original Magna Carta are examples of laws that protected the peasants. “Clause 7: At her husband’s death, a widow may have her marriage portion and inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance …show more content…

“Less familiar is the role of Magna Carta in the centuries after 1225, when it was taken up periodically as the banner of discontented subjects rallying against their monarch, and their programs for political reform included calls for its reconfirmation” (Turner). “The champion of the doctrine of the ancient constitution and the revival of Magna Carta was Sir Edward Coke (d. 1634)” (Turner). “Magna Carta took on greater significance in the 17th century as a result of the weight given to the charter by Edward Coke (pronounce ‘cook’), one of the leading scholars of that century. In 1610, in what is known as Bonham’s Case, Coke reiterated the claim that the Great Charter represented a higher law. James Otis would cite Bonham’s Case in his attack on the Stamp Act over 150 years later. Thomas Paine would cite the principle in Common Sense, as would leading colonists in their attacks on British rule” (EDSITEment). Colonists began to realize the significance of the Magna Carta. “In 1776, rebellious American colonists looked to the Magna Carta as a model for their demands of liberty from the English crown” (History). “In the decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, colonial lawyers and pamphleteers turned to Magna Carta for

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