How wartime Britain planned to give the US a copy of Magna Carta

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/11/wartime-britain-planned-us-copy-of-magna-carta
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A secret British plan to butter up the US during the second world war by handing over a copy of Magna Carta has been revealed by the British Library.

The library will put on display for the first time government papers documenting a remarkable plot for a Magna Carta manuscript owned by Lincoln cathedral to be gifted to the Americans.

“It’s incredible isn’t it? What were they thinking?” said Julian Harrison, co-curator of the British Library’s Magna Carta exhibition, marking the 800th anniversary of the sealing of one of the most important documents in the world.

“The plan was to persuade the Americans to join the war effort,” he said. “What greater gift could you give the American people than a manuscript of Magna Carta, an old piece of parchment in an ancient language which was part of our common heritage?”


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The comments are delish


Nad Gough
6h ago
2 3

Good you kept it. It would have become as worthless here as the Bill of Rights. Besides, we would require two copies. One to shit on and one to cover it up with

These views are not my own, merely my government's demonstrable opinion.

[heaven05]

1. +1