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Jun 15, 1215
The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is a document that a group of barons made King John sign it. The significance is that the Magna Carta is still present in our government today, and it includes rights by trial as jury due to the arbituary taking of life, liberty, or property. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was signed by fourty-one male pilgrims. The men agreed to form a temporary government and be bound by its laws. The compact became the basis of government in Playmouth Colony. It's significance is how it set a precedent and was an influential document for the founding fathers as they created the US constitution. -
Petition of Rights
The petition of Rights limited the kings power in several ways. The significance of the petition is that the king doesn't have all the power and has to follow the rules/laws. -
Navigation Act
The Navigation Acts were laws that restricted the use of foreign trade and shipping between England and its colonies which started in 1651 (I couldn't find the exact day). The significance is the attempt to enforce the acts helped cause the war of American Independence. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an act declaring the rights and liberties of the subject and settling the success of the crown. The importance is how its authors considers that citizens and/or residents of a constitutional monarchy ought to have. -
Porclamation of 1763
It restricted white settlement on a certain area for the Applachians south of the Hudson Bay. This proclamation is by Britain and the end of the French and Indian war. The importance of the Proclamation of1763 is writing it to begin with. For once giving sympathy to the Applachians and the right to their own land. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was passed by the parliament of Great Britain. It is a law passed raising duties on foreign refined sugar imported by the colonies so as to give British sugar growers in the West Indies a monopoly on the colonial market. The significance is that the British sugar growers had control over the colonial market. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act is a law that required the use of tax stamps on all legal documents on certain business agreements, and on newspapers. It was significant because it was the first time the people/colonies had joined to oppose the government. They were having a strong protest against the new British policies. -
Boston Tea Party
Citizens of Boston (disguised as indians) raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor; organized as a protest against taxes on tea. This was significant because it showed the British that the colonists would not stand for what kind of taxes the British were putting on the items. -
Coercive Act
(Four measures passed by British Parliament) Parliament adopted series of legislative bills, known as the Coercive Acts. They were intended to punish Boston, but caused widespread concern in the colonies because they seemed to violate the sanctity of local political institutions. The significance of the Coercive Act is that Parliament passed four acts aimed specifically as ehat is called the hot bed in rebellion, Boston. These were called the intollerable Acts by the colonists. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress passed resolutions stating the British Parliament didn't have the right to pass laws in the colonies, and had the right to only regulate trade between Great Britain and colonies. This was significant because for the first time in history, the thirteen colonies were working as a group, and not as individual colonists. -
First shots fired at Lexington and Concord
This was the first shot fired between American and British troops. No one is still sure who fired first, but it was the "shot heard 'round the world". The British moved on to nearby concord, where they ran into more than 300 American patriots. It was significant how the British assumed they would win the battle of Lexington because they new they were such a great army. They decided to send some of their worst soldiers in the battle and ended up withdrawing and loosing against the Americans. -
Second Continental Congress
Members of the second continental congress met at the state house in Philidelphia. The Second Coninental Congress established the melitia as the continental army to represent the thirteen states. As for significance, the congress adopted the declaration, acted as the government for teh colonies during the war, raised an army and navy, approved the creation of articles of Confederation, and negotiated the peace with Great Britain. -
Declaration of Indepepdence
The Declaration of Independence is a document that Americans signed to prove to the King of England that all thirteen colonies agreed they should have the right to be free. I think what's significant about the Declaration of Independence is that the King actually signed and passed it to declare their right to freedom.
