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Period: Feb 3, 1200 to
Chapter 2 Timeline
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Feb 3, 1215
Magna Carta
Great Charter forced upon King John of England by his barons in 1215; established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due process of law to the nobility. -
Petition of Rights
Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628. Challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to laws of the land. -
English Bill of Rights
Document written by Parliament and agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs. Forms the basis for much in American government and politics today. -
Albany Plan of Union
A plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies to trade, military, and other purpose . The was turned down by the colonies and the Crown. -
Boston Massacre
British troops fired on a jering crowd killing five, and what came to be known as the Boston Massacre. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of men disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships in Boston Harbor. They broke open the chests and dumped the ship's cargo into the sea to protest British control of the tea trade. -
First Continental Congress
Parliament passed another set of laws, this time to punish the colonists for the troubles in Boston and elsewhere. These new laws, denounced in America as the Intolerable Acts, Prompted widespread calls for a meeting of the colonies -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence
A document stating that the United States is free from British Rule. It announced that the United States was an independent country. -
Articles of Confederation
Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established a "firm league of friendship" among the States, but allowed few important powers to the central government -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion, the post-Revolutionary clash between New England farmers and merchants that tested the precarious institutions of the new republic, threatened to plunge the "disunited states" into a civil war. The rebellion arose in Massachusetts in 1786, spread to other states, and culminated in the rebels' march upon a federal arsenal. -
Virgina Plan
Plan presented by delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention. Called for three branches of government with a bicameral legislature in which each State's membership would be determined by its population or its financial suppor for the central government. -
New Jersey Plan
Plan presented as an alternative to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention, Called for a Unicameral legislature in which each State would be equally represented. -
Philadelphia Convention
The business of the convention was opened by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, who, at the request of his colleagues, made a carefully prepared speech, in which he pointed out the serious defects in the Articles of Confederation, illustrated their utter inadequacy to secure the dignity, peace, and safety of the republic, and asserted the absolute necessity of a more energetic government.
