Civic Virtue

Magna Carta was forced upon King George in 1215 on the fields of Runnymede. The king would have repudiated the document as it had been in the past, but he died before he could say it was “fake news” or otherwise recant (however, that was done by a tyrant in the 1200s).

Granted, Magna Carta was not intended to grant the broad rights to one and all citizens as the myth surrounding the document is prone to indicate. The barons who forced the king to sign the document were not, to say the least, libertarians or seminal believers in democracy. They were the powerful owners of property and commanders of military forces and were ready to send those forces to do battle against the king.