700-Year-Old Magna Carta To Be On Display At National Archives

Students of history know that one of the most important documents Thomas Jefferson referred to as he and others drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights was the Magna Carta. The 700-year-old- document is going on display in Washington D.C.

An investment executive who paid more than $20 million for an original, handwritten copy of the Magna Carta presented the ancient paper Monday to the media and plans to loan it to the National Archives.

The National Archives considers the manuscript "a milestone in constitutional thought" from the 13th century, and plans to place it on public display later this month. David Rubenstein, the document's new owner, in the 1970s was the chief lawyer for a U.S. Senate panel that reviewed constitutional amendments. He said

The original Magna Carta was signed in 1215. Rubenstein's is one of four remaining copies of the document commissioned by the King of England in 1297 to establish basic human rights as part of English law.

This is very cool. See it starting March 12 in the West Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives Building.