This very old document from English history is greatly exaggerated in what it actually established but I do think it put the Western Empire on the right track for what would follow: legislatures, habeas corpus, written constitutions, bills/charters of rights and numerous other elements to form republics and democracies instead keeping us mired in petulant monarchies.
How it’s oversold I think is that C-students (or American pundits) believe the charter establishes the principles we live by today in the West. HA! The MC is more along the lines of a contract between King John (or in America, the lesser villain in Robin Hood) and the barons who felt they were getting screwed. In modern terms? It’s identical to every professional sports strike/lockout in America; a snit between the billionaire owners and the millionaire players. The rest of the English (and Americans)? Buckwheats for them.
According to the Economist, King John didn’t even honor what he was forced into agreeing to; maybe John was as conniving as Hollywood made him out to be. His son Henry III fared better when the document got amended in the 1220s…plus he had a more powerful army to bring the rebellious barons to heel.
It does remain a good start at reining in the power of a sole ruler even if just protects the other One Percenters. Inevitably others got included, too bad it wasn’t sooner. Oh, and all you Right Wing, Irrational Obama haters (you’re also bigots), the current president nor the predecessor I despised, were nowhere close to being as contemptible as King John who required such a written document.