Statutes of libertyFrom the Magna Carta to CCTV, a new exhibition at the British Library tells the definitive story of the nation's fight
for liberty. Historian Tristram Hunt is inspired
Tristram Hunt The Guardian, Thursday October 30 2008
Article history
I found this backstory artcile to be quite interesting; the histroy behind the British Constitution has always been a source of question for me,
being American. I was unaware that the documents on a whole over the changing of the constituion were unavailable to the public for so long. One
salient point from the author notes considering today's times:
As such, the exhibition hints at the recurrent historical tension between the British system of liberties and its imperial implementation. Despite
our slave-trading industry, in 1701 Lord Chief Justice Holt could rule that "as soon as a Negro comes into England, he becomes free: one may be a
villein in England, but not a slave". This was the language of free-born Englishmen, but it belied our arbitrary practices abroad. Indeed, the
actions of officials and soldiers in the British empire often served as warning of the perils of lost liberty. According to Colley, "One of the
persistent criticisms levelled against the empire by reformers and jurists was that such abuses overseas might in due course threaten and infect the
quality of liberties at home." In ascending order, what happened in a colony today may be done in Ireland tomorrow and England hereafter.
www.guardian.co.uk...
Please read as there is so much histroy. Any thoughts? Britons?
ColoradoJens
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