american revolution

Magna Carta is signed

Jun 15, 1215

This is the document that the parliament of britain made the king sign. it explained that no person would be above the law, and that the monarch himself had to have limited power. This greatly influenced american democratic views.

american revolution

Period: Jun 15, 1215 to Sep 5, 1790

Jamestown,VA is founded

Mar 14, 1607

This was the first settlemant that was able to stay established. it was made by a joint charter in england. It is still a historical site today.

VA house of burgesses established

Jul 30, 1619

The huse of burgesses was one of the first signs of representative democracy in our country. It started in Virginia, and soon enough other states were using tthis method of self government too.

Bacon's Rebellion

Oct 9, 1676

This was an event in which an unhappy citizen called Nathaniel Bacon led two successful rebellions. The irony stood in the fact that his rebellions were against the rich and powerful governor, and he himself was na artistocrat. Nevertheless, his rebellion won against the governor, but when he suddenly died a few years after taking control of the colonies, his rebellion colapsed.

English Bill of Rights

Dec 16, 1689

This was sort of a follow up to the Magna Carta. It basically, further took away the power of the monarch of England. It made sure to depict the powers of the parliament and the artistocrats in the country. this also influenced our self government ideals.

Enlightenment period begins

Oct 9, 1730

This era, so to speak, was a time when many great philosophers and idealists came to light. Many ideas that came from this period influenced the makong of the constitution.

French and Indian war begins

Jul 3, 1754

This war was a very costly war for britain. While america did help england in this battle, it also coincidently started the spark of need for independence in them. This war would start the want for a revolution.

Frnch and Indian war ends

Jan 7, 1763

Once this war ended many changes started. Mostly because, as a result of this war britain had much debt. So, it decided to put high taxes on americans to pay it off. Oh boy, totally wrong move.

Proclamation of 1763

Oct 9, 1763

This was when britain forbade the settlers from moving west of the appalachian mountains for fear of upsetting the native americans even more. However , in doing this they did upset the people here who wanted to move.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

This was an event in Boston when a few angry colonists confronted some soldiers in the town square. Some say it was a mob, others say it was just a couple of people. whatever the case, the point is that on this day, guns went off and five colonistrs were killed.

Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

In this event, a group of colonists (sons of liberty), angry at Britain for the taxes they'd put on all teas except for theirs, decided to get even. They dressed up as native americans and snuck on British tea boats. Then they dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbor.

Intolerable Acts

Mar 9, 1774

These series of laws were actually called the coercive acts, but feeling that these laws were completely intolerable, the colonists decided to call them the intolerable acts. These laws included taking a way the colonists right to trial by jury, issuing completely unwarranted and unjustifiable searches,etc.

1st Continental congress

Sep 5, 1774

When delegates from most states came together to write a document to telling the King how they felt with all the new laws, and how much they needed change in order to be happy.

Lexington and Concord

Apr 18, 1775

when the british troops invaded and fought against the rebel colonists for the first time. THese were the first battles of the revolution. "THe shot heard round the world".

2nd Continental congress

May 10, 1775

In this continental congress, the colonists came together in order to determine how they felt about the revolution and what they would do about it. It was from this meeting that the declaration of independance came.

Common sense published

Jan 10, 1776

This book by Thomas Paine inspired many colonists who were afraid of the revolution and what it could bring if we lost. In time, many started to believ that america could gain independance,

Declaration of Independance

Jul 4, 1776

This document was very important to the actualization of self government in America. It depicted that we considered ourselves independent from that moment. Written mostly by Thomas Jefferson, it was a symbol of hope throughout the revolution.

Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Mar 15, 1781

At this batlle in what is now greensboro, the armies of nathaniel greene and general cornwallis fought for several hours. THis had been building up since greene's other armies had destroyed some of cornwallis' other armies.

British surrender at Yorktown

Oct 19, 1781

By this time the war had been going on long and hard. HOwever, just when it seemed like the americans were going have to go down, the french finally came to their aid and the british were forced to surrender.

Treaty of Paris

Sep 3, 1783

This was a treaty between britain and the US once the british surrendered in Yorktown. It clearly showed that there would be peace between the US and england. They've managed to keep that promise intact so far.