ONCE UPON A TIME, MAGNA CARTA, 797 YEARS OLD TODAY, PAID A VISIT TO THE AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL

THE U.K. SENDS ITS

BEST COPY OF

THE MAGNA CARTA

TO THE GREAT ROTUNDA

OF THE U.S. CAPITOL

June 3, 1976

U.S. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE CARL ALBERT

ACCEPTS THE LOAN OF ONE OF THE ORIGINALS

AND THE GIFT OF THE GOLD REPLICA

Speaker Albert is at the microphones;

House Majority Leader Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill is behind him to his left;

the Magna Carta is on the right

"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land."

King John, presumably represented by the figure in the top center, June 15, 1215:

Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign

From the Speech by The Lord Chancellor, Lord Elwyn-Jones:

"Now we rejoice that we can share your Bicentennial celebrations. Peoples not familiar with our ways have thought it paradoxical for the British to be joining in the celebration of the Bicentenary of what was, after all, the loss of the American colonies. They overlook our traditions of compromise. We now regard the events of two centuries ago as a victory for the English-speaking world. ...

"As streams join and make a mighty river, so have our Magna Carta and Bill of Rights and your Declaration of Independence and Constitution mingled to form a common heritage and tradition which has served as an inspiration to both our countries. ...

"The copy of Magna Carta which we hand over today to your care is the best of the four surviving originals of the 1215 version. At the wish of Her Majesty The Queen and on behalf of the Members of both Houses of Parliament, it is my honour to present to you this show case and to ask you to accept into the safe keeping of Congress, for the Bicentennial Year, the Magna Carta. May we continue to respect and defend the principles which it symbolises and may the friendship between our countries and our peoples long endure."

From the answering remarks by U.S. Speaker of the House Carl Albert:

"We commemorate this year the sundering of constitutional bonds between our two Nations. ...

"It was Edmund Burke who observed that, 'people will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.'

"It is in this spirit that we pay tribute today, not only to Washington and Jefferson, but also to the Barons of Runnymede. That which our ancestors have bequeathed, we must earn and earn again."

The original "Wyems" copy of Magna Carta remained displayed in the case "atop the gold replica," returning to the U.K. on June 13, 1977. The elaborate replica remained in the Rotunda until August 2010, when it was moved to the Crypt of the Capitol. The Architect of the Capitol has a lengthy description of the display, made by Louis Osman, here; an excerpt:

"The gold panel inside the lower section of the case holds raised gold text duplicating that of Magna Carta; gold replicas of King John’s seal are at the left of the document. On the glass center divider are gold incised letters forming the English translation of Magna Carta."

A photograph can be found here.

Ronald A. Sarasin, President of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, on April 3, 2003, told something of the history of the Bicentennial presentation, here, giving John Warner much of the credit for the original impetus for the visit of the Magna Carta.

The United States now has on permanent display, in the National Archives, one of the later "original" issues of Magna Carta, this one dating from 1297, presented by David M. Rubenstein. A photograph of this version (there are only seventeen surviving altogether) is to be found here. The English translation is here.