-
Jamestown's house of Burgesses
With its origin in the first meeting of the Virginia General Assembly at Jamestown in July 1619, the House of Burgesses was the first democratically-elected legislative body in the British American colonies. About 140 years later, when Washington was elected, the electorate was made up of male landholders. -
Mayflower compact
was a legal instrument that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. -
Individual Rights
1689: English bill of Rights passed -
Sugar Act
cut the duty on foreign molasses from 6 to 3 pence per gallon, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum. -
stamp act
The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. -
Boston Massacre
seven British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonians, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony -
Boston Tea Party
To protest British Parliament's tax on tea. "No taxation without representation." The demonstrators boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British government considered the protest an act of treason and responded harshly. -
Intolerable act
colonists were forced to "Quarter", or house, British troops -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion was a 1786-1787 uprising in Massachusetts led by Daniel shays. It highlighted economic struggles and the weakness of the articles of confederation, leading to the US constitution -
The constitutional Convention
met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation -
Northwest Ordinance
chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. -
Bill of Rights Ratified
It consists of the first ten amendments to the united states constitution, guaranteeing individual rights and freedoms