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Jan 1, 1215
Magna Carta
English document that moved power from the king to parliament. This document helped to give people more control over the government and to stop the king from being corrupt. -
Jamestown Settled
The goal of the settlement of Jamestown was qucik money by mining gold and getting a foothold in the new world by england. The first colony was successfully established after at least 18 failed attempts. -
Mayflower Compact Written
Due to a change of location, the colonists had no real government and decided to make their own. Several had left England in order to escape the Church of England and had no qualms with writing their own constitution. -
Petition of Right
This English document set forth the rights of people that the king could not infringe upon. It provided for the people with rules that kept the king from inflicting martial law in a time of peace. It also gave them the writ of habeas corpus, keeping people from being imprisoned without known charges. -
English Bill of Rights
This document expresses the freedoms that english men have from their constitutional monarchy. The ideals expressed in this document were inspired by the english philosopher John Locke. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union, Proposed by Benjamin Franklin, would have givenmore power to colonists to rule and tax themselves. The colonists and the Crown did not trust in this ideal, colonists were suspicious of central taxing, and the king was suspicious of revolution. -
Stamp Act
The stamp act was created to help Great Britain pay off its war debt. They taxed paper for legal documents, newspapers, and letters, this angered many colonists due to the fact that they had no represenatives in parliament. -
Boston Massacre
Due to heavy millitary involvement in Boston many people began skirmishes with the British soldiers. Soldiers retaliated by firing into a rioting crowd killing five citizens. -
Boston Tea Party
In a rebellious action angry colonials snuck onto a British ship while dressed as native americans and dumped tea off of it into the river. Colonists had become angry at the recent tea tax and decided to take a stand against Britain. -
Intolerable acts
These were five acts passed by parliament to make an example of Massachusetts. These acts altered the Massachusetts government, closed the boston port, and made all colonists open their houses to British soldiers. -
First Continental Congress
Held at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, the political leaders met in response to the Intolerable Acts. 56 delegates came from every colony except Georgia to petition King George. -
American Revolution Begins
The revolution was a response to high taxes and imposing governmental rule on the colonies. After Britain refused to give colonies representation and refused to listen to their complaints about the unfair laws the colonies rose up and fought back. -
Second Continental Congress
This meeting took place in Philadelphia much like the first, they met to discuss the revolutionary war. Once again Georgia did not send any delegates, but St. Paul's Parish in Georgia did. -
Declaration of Independance
This document listed grievances of the colonies had with the British government. By signing this declaration the colonies broke away from Britain and declared themselves independant. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution adopted by the United States. The Articles however proved to have many flaws, such as its lack of a tax base. -
Shays Rebellion
Daniel Shays was a revolutionary war veteran who started a multitude of uprisings in central and western Massachusetts. Many farmers were angry over the country's debt and high taxes, courts had began to take their farms from them and the farmers stood up and fought. -
Philadelphia Convention
Delegates from the states met to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead however they wrote a new constitution to replace the old one. -
Conneticut Compromise
While working on flaws in the government a debate over the legislature broke out. Many people believed that states should be represented equally, others believed that higher populations should have more represenatives. The Conneticut Compromise split the Congress into the House of Represenatives (based on population) and the Senate (each state gets two senators). -
Constitution Convection
In Philelphia delegates replaced the flawed Articles of Confederation with our current constitution. It fixed several flaws and created a more united nation instead of divided states.
