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Sep 4, 1255
Magna Carta
The 1215 Charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. -
Jamestown
Jamestown was founded for the purposes of a quick profit from gold mining for its investors while also establishing a permanent foothold in North America for England. Jamestown followed no fewer than eighteen earlier failed attempts at European colonization of the North American mainland, including the famous "Lost Colony" at Roanoke Island in what is now Dare County, North Carolina. -
Mayflower Compact
The colonists were part of a separatist group seeking the freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination and not the will of the English Church. The 'dread sovereign' referred to in the document used the archaic definition of dread—meaning awe and reverence not fear. -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. The Petition is most notable for its confirmation of the principles that taxes can be levied only by Parliament, that martial law may not be imposed in time of peace, and that prisoners must be able to challenge the legitimacy of their detentions through the writ of habeas corpus. -
English Bill of Rights
It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. It lays down limits on the powers of sovereign and sets out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech in Parliament, the requirement to regular elections to Parliament and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. -
Albany Plan of Union
It was an early attempt at forming a union of the colonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes"[1] during the French and Indian War. The Plan was promptly rejected by both sides. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an incident that led to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British redcoats. A heavy British military presence in Boston led to a tense situation that boiled over into incitement of brawls between soldiers and civilians and eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being threatened by a rioting crowd. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. A group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The acts triggered outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies that later became the United States, and were important developments in the growth of the American Revolution. Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of their constitutional rights, their natural rights, and their colonial charters. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. The war ended with effective American victory in October 1781, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the United States with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. -
Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States and specified how the Federal government was to operate, including adoption of an official name for the new nation, United States of America. The Articles were created by the representatives of the states in the Second Continental Congress out of a perceived need to have "a plan of confederacy for securing the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the United States." -
Shays' Rebellion
A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787, and four rebels were killed in the action. Shays' Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement between large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It proposed a bicameral legislature, resulting in the current United States Senate and House of Representatives. -
Philadelphia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. Although the Convention was purportedly intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one.
