Awesome news for world history fanatics out there. The Magna Carta (no, not that Magna Carta), England’s foundational document pertaining to individual liberties and therefore, subsequently, America’s, will be making its way across the pond to be put on display at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The exhibition runs from July 2 through September 1, just in time for our Independence Day and will be accompanied by Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl, Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s drafts of the Declaration of Independence, and a slew of symbols of liberty and justice, according to the MFA.

Only four of thirteen copies of the Magna Carta, Latin for ‘Great Charter,’ exist in the world today, a rather astounding feat considering it was written in 1215 – 800 years ago next year.

According to the Salisbury Cathedral’s website, the Magna Carta was the first document in which a group of people – powerful, landowning barons – limited the power and authority of a king.

It’s not quite as black and white as that, though. The barons were also a military caste and threatened the financially unstable and weakened King John with civil war if he did not seal the document.

It’s influence on American life stems most from the Magna Carta’s acceptance and acknowledgment of “the freedom of the Church, the rights of towns, and that justice could not be bought or sold.”

It’s important to note that the Magna Carta has been glorified somewhat in its near eight centuries in existence and even we Americans have come to realize that this is so, despite the fact that it’s considered the seed that flowered into our own Constitution.

The National Archives notes on its website that “The interests of the common man were hardly apparent in the minds of the men who brokered the agreement.”

Still, the sentiments and ideals put forth came to resound heartily amongt American revolutionaries so they just took them and ran with them.

The Magna Carta will be available for viewing in the MFA’s Edward and Nancy Roberts Family Gallery (Gallery LG26) and is free to members.

Image via Wikipedia