A MOST TREASURED GIFT TO AMERICA

摘要

The exhibition "Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor" is designed to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and to illustrate the great charter's influence on laws and liberties throughout the centuries. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be the Magna Carta on loan from Lincoln Cathedral in England. The rare document and 76 items drawn from the collections at the Library of Congress will be on display through Jan. 19, 2015. "Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor" features medieval manuscripts, published works, prints, photographs, maps, posters, and annotated draft opinions by justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Library's exhibition will show how the interpretation of the Magna Carta through the centuries led to the constitutional guarantees of individual liberty brought forth by America's Founding Fathers. It will describe how a number of the most basic principles of the Constitution-consent of the governed, the right to a trial by jury, the right to due process of law, freedom from unlawful imprisonment, and limited government under the law-can be traced to the Magna Carta. Also, liberties associated with the Magna Carta are not just for the history books; many of those liberties are still being litigated in U.S. courts today.