During the early 13th century, King John reigned tyrannically over Great Britain. He conducted many unsuccessful conquests in an attempt to return land taken by France, demanding more taxes and soldiers as time went on, abandoning the custom to consult the barons of the land and seizing the land of barons who did not comply.
King John also disagreed with the Pope over who should succeed as the Archbishop of Canterbury, leading the Pope to excommunicate the king and terminate all church services within England. The situation changed only after King John declared England a fief of the Pope and “rented” the land annually for great sums of money (“Meeting at Runnymede: The Story of King John and Magna Carta”). These actions resulted in an insurrection by the barons to restrict the power of their king in a document they named the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, consisting of 63 clauses that may not be revoked by the monarch, featuring famous concepts such as habeas corpus and due process (What is Magna Carta?). Despite its simple purpose of solving a dispute between King John and the barons of England, the Magna Carta proved essential in the establishment and development of the United States.
