ABSTRACT
The nineteenth century was an age of ‘isms’ when new ideologiesinfluenced the English people’s attitudes about Magna Carta. Among the movements were romanticism and nationalism, and by the century’s end, a scientific and secular world-view contesting tradition-bound attitudes. In England, romanticism and nationalism fixed more firmly the Whig interpretation of history, giving Magna Carta a prominent place in the kingdom’s progress toward liberty. Leaders of both movements saw nations and their institutions as living organisms, shaped by their historical evolution, not by human design. Historians seized on this organic concept of the state to stress England’s unique qualities, looking to the Middle Ages for the source of its ancient constitution and common law heritage.
