Democratic IdealsBoth the English Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence (DOI) are documents that guarantee and protect the rights of citizens. Three specific rights that both documents emphasized were liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and self-government. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Liberty in these two documents means freedom from despotic government or foreign or external domination. And that’s exactly what these two documents do. More specifically, the Magna Carta limited the power of the king while the DOI allowed America to free itself from foreign domination, in this case English domination. In the Magna Carta it says: "...and that the men of our kingdom shall have and retain all these liberties, rights and concessions..." and the DOI states: "That these united colonies are and by right should be free." and independent states. Except for these elements, the ideas represented by these excerpts are very important because they protect the people. Additionally, self-government is also an important ideal represented in both documents. Self-government is when a government is controlled by its own members. In other words, a democratic government, like that of the United States. The importance of self-government is that it creates shared power between the people and the government and in return it also protects the rights of the people. In the DOI it is clearly stated that "to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...", in other words, that the government derives its power from the people by letting The people indirectly choose who runs the government. Indirectly, they choose representatives to choose for them. Another crucial ideal presented in both documents is the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness is defined as a fundamental right to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy. , provided that you do not do anything illegal or violate the rights of others. This is an important ideal because it gives freedom to citizens from the government. In the DOI, this inalienable right (the pursuit of happiness) is mentioned in the first sentence of the second paragraph, "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. "Keep in mind: This is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay To conclude, the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence give rights to peoples by presenting the important ideals that have shaped the world and that people love and respect.