A Magna "Charter" for the Empire, resurrecting the myth of Magna Carta during the American revolution

International audienceIn this article I will argue that between 1765 and 1772, the myth of the English Magna Carta was resurrected with patriotic emotion, by some Anglo-American colonists who identified the so-called intent, solemnity, contractual form and political content of the original Magna "Charter" with their colonial charters. I will show that Samuel Adams and other patriots began to see their Royal charters, particularly the 1691 Massachusetts Bay charter, as a Magna "Charter" for the Empire. In doing so, in claiming some palimpsestic approach between the centuries' old Charta and late 17 th century colonial charters, patriots displayed an early American example of "constitutional patriotism", by which they invested a lot of emotion in the original constitution, be it their own or the original Magna Carta