If you read it, it seems mostly concerned with money.. heirs, fees, management, etc. The details of the text was not the central issue, as later in the declaration of independence, but what it represented: Rule of Law. Instead of kings & nobles arbitrarily doing whatever they wanted, there were guidelines.. LAWS that superseded their decrees. It was a foundational document for the concept of due process: LAW, rather than the fickle whims of the ruling elite.
Here are a few points:
(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or carts for transport from any free man, without his consent
(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle, or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner.
(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly
(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.
(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.
(40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.
source: http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation#sthash.3RSjblwX.dpuf
The last couple are probably the most noteworthy, & are still valid in English Law. But at the time, very few people were 'freemen', so it was not as revolutionary as it might seem. But this confirmed the concept of individual rights over the ruler's decree, & began the idea of due process. English Law continued to evolve these concepts in the English bill of rights of 1869, which were also codified into the American Constitution.
Here are a few points in the English Bill of Rights:
That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;
That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law;
That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;
That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;
That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament;
That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;
That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders;
That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void;
..and the American bill of rights, the first 10 amendments to the constitution.
I- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
II- A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
III- No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
IV- The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
V- No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
VI- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
VII- In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
VIII- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
IX- The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
X- The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Many of the rights enumerated are almost verbatim from earlier texts. It is easy to see the 'paper trail' of liberty evolving in history. Rights were expanded upon.. going from nobles to freemen, to every citizen. The concept of Natural Law was born, & with it the recognition that everyone had inherent rights to their life, property, & liberty. Wars were fought, attempts made to subjugate the freedoms, but for at least 800 years we have been moving toward MORE freedom for the common man. This should be celebrated! It is a victory for the common man, having the same rights as the ruling elite, & the ruling elite under the same LAW as the common man. This opened the door for the idea of self rule. Citizen representatives could make decisions for the nation, based on common sense & common goals. Govt could be kept minimal, & have few demands on the lives & property of the people. A ruling elite could be avoided, which always seems to degenerate into oppression of the working man. There have been setbacks, but we have been going in the direction of freedom, & we are all the better for it. It has been a wonderful experiment in Human Freedom.. a nation conceived in liberty, & dedicated to human rights & due process.
Now we are engaged in a great national debate, to test whether this nation, or any nation so conceived & dedicated, can long endure. Enemies of human freedom dominate the nation's institutions. Schools do not teach the fundamentals of freedom, the magna carta, or even the declaration of Independence. Major media outlets ridicule the concepts of liberty. Historical documents that elevate human liberty are criticized & viewed as old fashioned, not as building blocks of freedom. But this 'new' mindset is really just one of the old ones, rebranded, revised, & put in hip new terms. It is still elitist oppression from a ruling elite, even if they are just wannabes. But they show their true colors in opposing all the basics of freedom:
Speech.
Religion.
Gun rights.
No unreasonable search & seizure.
No double jeopardy.
Right to trial by jury of peers.
Presumption of innocence.
Right to face accuser.
The basis for these things are the concept of Truth, & due process as a method of discovery. Evidence is submitted, examinations made, & truth is determined, beyond a reasonable doubt. It was an extension of scientific discovery, using technology, logic, & common sense. Assumptions are avoided. Speculation is discouraged. Only facts & evidence count. But the anti freedom, anti truth forces that dominate our institutions are threatening this thread of liberty. It is woven in the tapestry of history, & is now in danger of being cut off. Speech has to follow politically correct guidelines. Religion can be redefined as 'bigotry', firearms are banned, accusations substitute for evidence, & mob rule is promoted, instead of blind justice. Guilt is accused, not proven. Trials are public shows, not inquiries for facts.
How can a nation so rich in human freedom, with a heritage of due process, liberty, & basic rights, toss it all aside for promises of utopia from slick tongued deceivers? How can we even consider letting them rule by decree, & set our basic rights aside?
Notice the progression of rights.. more & more were added, to preempt the despotism of the ruling elite. The last 2 in the American bill of rights are very interesting, & powerful. They delegate ANYTHING that might come up in the future, or that weren't spelled out as being rights of THE PEOPLE, not the state.. just the opposite of what the current nanny state is doing. Anything not spelled out, they claim as their turf, & dictate to US 'how it is going to be'. This should rile up the citizens. We should be greatly offended that some bureaucrat, living off our dime, is bossing US around, claiming authority over us. These assholes work for us, not the other way around. Our elected officials are just regular citizens, not some cream of the crop, ruling class. They have things so twisted that it will probably take armed revolt to make an attitude adjustment.
800 years!! That is a long time. It has not been easy, as the ruling elite NEVER relinquish power willingly. The people must FORCE them to submit to LAW, as they always try to put themselves above it. Early last century, the ideology began that slowly eroded the concept of Law & due process: Progressive ideology. The basic rights were muddied & diluted with stupid nanny state inclusions that obscured the basis of Natural Law. FDR included EVERYTHING as a basic right. Jobs, education, food, housing, old age pension.. everything that humans have had to work to earn for all of human history, he included as a natural right! He just promoted the Great Fiction that govt can enable you to live off of everybody else. It was not about basic rights to life, liberty, & property, but free stuff. It was merely collectivist redistribution, not basic human rights. Someone else had to work to earn these things, & the great mooching state had begun.
And for the next 80-100 yrs, we have been reaping the harvest of this ideology. By diluting the concept of Natural Law & basic human rights, they minimize all of them. By minimizing rights to life, property, & liberties, they kill due process. Those are concessions to be made by Big Brother, not inherent rights. The Messianic Leader can benevolently grant a privilege.. it is not yours by birth. They started with property.. it belongs to the state. You didn't build that. Any success you had in your life you OWE to the govt, your benevolent enabler. That is how all the mooching elite live, so they assume EVERYONE can live this way. And as the basic right to property is eroded, so goes the rest of our 'natural rights'. Speech has been under attack by PC tyranny for decades. Gun rights are constantly targeted by the progressive elite. Due process gives way to mob rule & public propaganda trials.
If this evil ideology is not exposed & resisted, the great leaps of human freedom we have seen over the last 800 years will disappear. They will revise history, & no mention will be made about the quest for human freedom. They don't mention it now, in progressive run academia. They certainly won't mention it when they gain full control of all the information outlets.
Credit to Abe Lincoln for the line from the Gettysburg Address.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
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