Magna Carta, the Charter of Liberties sealed by King John of England in 1215 AD, is routinely cited as one of the most important documents of our constitutional tradition. It ranks with the English Bill of Rights (1689), The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in symbolic power. And while the details of …
Don’t let the title of this post mislead you. Of course it was not Robin Hood and his Merry Men who brought King John to his knees in June of 1215. That was accomplished by a band of John’s own barons. But here and there over the last couple of centuries, stories of the legendary …
A walk through the stacks of the Law Library of Congress will give you a vivid sense, if you had ever wondered, of what more than a million books looks like. Current statistics show that the Law Library houses 2.78 million physical volumes in its collection. Nearly all of these are stored in four gigantesque …
Imagine a court that could force you to incriminate yourself. It might go about its work like this: you are made to stand before a judge who refuses to give you any details about the charge laid against you. You are forced to take an oath before your God to answer truthfully any questions that …
Today’s pic of the week highlights an item from our collection that finds itself in the spotlight very often, whether as part of a display in one of the Library of Congress’s many fascinating public exhibitions, or as a quasi-sacred book in the swearing-in ceremony of public officials. It is also one of my favorite …
“There may be room there, though not here for such an holy experiment.” William Penn (1644-1718) wrote these words to a friend in America before he set sail across the Atlantic to found a colony in the New World. The holy experiment he spoke about was a plan to establish a new polity founded on …
The idea of republican simplicity is a relic from the age of the American Revolutionary War. To get at its meaning, it’s easiest to meditate on its opposite. Think to yourself: How do I address a king? Am I meant to bow/curtsey? How low? What do I do with my hands while I bow? Do …
Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the first written constitution in American history, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which took place on January 14, 1639. The Fundamental Orders outlined the form of government that would be established over the Connecticut River Towns, enumerating its powers and describing the duties of citizens active in government. A fascinating document …
