Statement

Today, we celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of Magna Carta—one of history’s earliest and most consequential declarations of human freedom. Forged over 500 years before the dawn of our Republic, its eternal principles of equal justice, liberty, and the rule of law would ultimately leave an indelible mark on the American way of life.

On June 15, 1215, King John of England affixed his royal seal to Magna Carta at Runnymede, establishing the cornerstone of liberty upon which many of the world’s free governments would one day be built. For one of the first times in history, fundamental liberties of mankind were written into the law of the land: that justice must be equal and impartial, that religious liberty must be protected by law, that government may not levy taxes upon its people without their consent, and that no free man may be unduly imprisoned or stripped of his rights except by the lawful judgement of his peers. It boldly proclaimed that even the mightiest among us are answerable to a higher law and that the rights of free citizens are beyond the reach of any crown or government.

What was born on the fields of Runnymede would find its truest expression centuries later in the halls of Philadelphia, where our Founding Fathers gathered to forge a new Nation from the same eternal principles. They carried with them the ancient English love of liberty; a distinctive sense of glory, destiny, and pride;and a culture and character shaped over centuries on both sides of the Atlantic—but they had watched a British crown grow deaf to the very charter it had sworn to uphold. Having endured thattyranny for too long, our forefathers consecrated themselves to a new Republic grounded in the consent of the governed, equaljustice under the law, and the God-given rights of every free citizen to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—a country that would stand as living proof that the timeless ideals of the Great Charter could still sustain a free and sovereign people across the ages.

As we commemorate the anniversary of Magna Carta, we are reminded that the duty to preserve these freedoms falls to every generation of free citizens. The Patriots who pledged their lives to Independence in 1776 were heirs to the liberties enshrined in the Great Charter, and for 250 years since, America has borne witness to the truth that those ideals can endure—that a nation built on impartial justice, individual liberty, and the rule of law can rise to meet any challenge and remain forever free. In this incredible milestone year for our Nation, we are the proud heirs of that great legacy—and we resolve to carry it forward with the same conviction that has defined every generation of Americans who came before us.