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Jan 1, 1215
The Magna Carta
King John of England agreed, in 1215, to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta be prepared on parchment, affixed with his seal, and publicly read throughout the realm. Thus he bound not only himself but his "heirs, for ever" to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties the great charter described. With Magna Carta, King John placed himself and England's future sovereigns and magistrates within the rule -
Petiton of Right
Petition of Right, 1628, a statement of civil liberties sent by the English Parliament to Charles I. Refusal by Parliament to finance the king's unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to exact forced loans and to quarter troops in subjects' houses as an economy measure. Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment for opposing these policies had produced in Parliament a violent hostility to Charles and George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham. The Petition of Right, initiated by Sir Edward Coke, -
English Bill of Rights
- That the pretended power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament is illegal. * 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with the laws, or the execution of law by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal. * 3. That the commission for erecting the late court of commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal
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Albany Plan of Union
It is proposed that humble application be made for an act of Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general government may be formed in America, including all the said colonies, within and under which government each colony may retain its present constitution, except in the particulars wherein a change may be directed by the said act, as hereafter follows. 1. That the said general government be administered by a President-General, to be appointed and supported by the crown; and a G -
Boston Massacre
on the night of March 5, 1770 — five men had been shot to death in Boston town by British soldiers. Precipitating the event known as the Boston Massacre was a mob of men and boys taunting a sentry standing guard at the city's customs house. When other British soldiers came to the sentry's support, a free-for-all ensued and shots were fired into -
Boston Tea Party
Feeling ran so high that when tea which was taxable u the parliamentary act was about to be landed in Boston in November, 1773, a party of men disguised as Indians rushed to the vessels carrying the tea and threw it overboard. This is known as the "Boston ...The colonists objected so strongly to the new taxes that all were soon repealed except that on tea. Feeling ran so high that when tea which was taxable under the parliamentary act was about to be landed -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall on September 5, 1774. The idea of such a meeting was advanced a year earlier by Benjamin Franklin, but failed to gain much support until after the Port of Boston was closed in response to the Boston Tea Party. Twelve of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Georgia decided against roiling the waters; they were facing attacks from the restive Creek on their borders and desperately needed the support of regular British soldiers. -
Second Continential Congress
Before adjourning in late October 1774, the First Continental Congress had provided for reconvening at a later time if circumstances dictated. The skirmishes at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, and the gathering of an American army outside of Boston provided sufficient impetus to assemble the delegates at the State House in Philadelphia. The first meeting convened on May 10, 1775, the same date as the American capture of Fort Ticonderoga. -
Declaration of Independence
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed -
Shay's Rebellion
armed insurrection by farmers in W Massachusetts against the state government. Debt-ridden farmers, struck by the economic depression that followed the American Revolution, petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their own imprisonment for debt as a result of high land taxes. Sentiment was particularly high against the commercial interests who controlled the
