The Magna Carta By: Tyler Giacopelli

Essay by gamerdude232Junior High, 7th grade May 2004

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The Magna Carta changed the way monarchs ruled in two ways. First, it limited the monarch's

arbitrary power. Most of the clauses dealt specifically with King John and his abuses of power over the nobility. Under the Magna Carta the king could not be above the law; he was subject to it. If the king wanted to impose extra taxes, beyond customary taxes, he would have to get approval from the kingdom about it first. The Magna Carta also said that all free men can get a fair trial with a jury of their peers. In addition, the Magna Carta gave nobles some say in the government. Over the course of fifty years, this grew into the idea of parliament. Parliament is a group of advisers to the English king. The other way the Magna Carta affected the monarchs rule was by making them more powerful.

The Magna Carta made the monarchs more powerful by giving the nobles some input in the government. This made the kingdom more as one. The monarchs then ruled over all of the kingdom not just a bunch of fighting feudal feifs.

The king that brought about the Magna Carta was King John. This is the story of how the Magna Carta came to be. King John was trying to increase his wealth and raise money to fight wars. He made the nobles and townspeople mad by having them pay super high taxes. He tried to make money on the nobility. For example he sold the right for an orphan's guardian to keep the orphan's property after the orphan turned 21. Also he put his enemies in jail and they had no right to a trial. After a while the townspeople got totally fed up with how King John was...