Both documents provide that government act according to the law of the land, and that individual rights and liberties be protected under that law. The circumstances that resulted in the Magna Carta are, however, quite different from those that gave rise to the Constitution.

England's King John had just failed in his effort to regain control of lands in France. The embarrassment of military defeat, combined with baronial resentment over the king's effort to extract further revenues to fill the depleted treasury, resulted in a secret meeting of barons who agreed to petitition John to restore certain legal guarantees and liberties first articulated in the charter of King Henry I.

The barons vowed that they would take up arms against John if he refused to comply.

On June 15, 1215 John met with the rebllious barons at Runnymead, a meadow located on the Thames River, where he agreed to the charter presented by the barons (some sympathetic clergy also assisted in preparation of the document).

The Magna Carta verified the king's [pledge to obey the law detailed within it, and provided a means whereby those not present could be informed of the agreement. John promptly backtracked on his to abide by the document, despite an enforcement clause that charged twenty-five barons with ensuring the king's compliance.

The continuing conflect between the barons and John halted with John's death in 1216. The importance of the Magna Carta lies in its establishment of the principle of the rule of law and some general principles mentioned in the document that were later adapted to change circumstances.

Most notably, Chapter 39 of the Magna Carta stats that "No free-man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised [have one's lands wrongfully taken], outlawed, banished, or in anyway destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land."

The Magna Carta was designed to benefit the feudal aristocracy, and secondarily the church and freemen. It did nothing for the vast class of serfs who were denied access to the courts.

Eventually, however, certain general principles, such as those described in Chapter 39, came to be applied more broadly. In time, these and other values found their way into America's governing documents.