-
Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
A charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. -
Sep 13, 1450
Triangular Trade
A multilateral system of trading in which a country pays for its imports from one country by its exports to another. It involved shipping goods from Britain to West Africa to be exchanged for slaves, these slaves being shipped to the West Indies and exchanged for sugar, rum, and other commodities, which were in turn shipped back to Britain. -
Pilgrims
A group of English Puritans fleeing religious persecution who sailed in the Mayflower and founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. When the Pilgrims left England, they obtained permission from the King of England to settle on land farther to the south near the mouth of the Hudson River (in present-day New York). -
Puritans
The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral and societal reforms. Escaping persecution from church leadership and the King, they came to America. -
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on January 15, 1639. The orders describe the government set up by the waters of Connecticut. -
Indentured Servants
Men, women, and sometimes children signed a contract with a master to serve a term of 4 to 7 years. In exchange for their service, the indentured servants received their passage paid from England, as well as food, clothing, and shelter once they arrived in the colonies. -
Enlightenment
A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton. -
The Great Awakening
An evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies. It left a permanent mark on American Protestantism. -
No Taxation Without Representation
The British began to tax the colonists without reason. This later became one of the major causes of the American Revolution by Patrick Henry. -
Stamp Act
An act of the British Parliament that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. This also played a role in the cause of the Revolutionary War. -
Tea Act
The British started taxing the colonist's tea. They thought it was a way to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. -
Tea Party
A political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. Colonists dressed up as Indians and poured gallons of tea in the Boston Harbor. -
Coercive Acts
The Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of laws relating to Britain's colonies in North America and passed by the British Parliament in 1774. Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 1773. -
First Continental Congress
a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. The representatives gathered to discuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts." -
American Revolution
War between the British and the 13 colonies of America. The colonists fought for freedom from British rule. -
Second Continental Congress
The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. -
Declaration of Independence
Document written by Thomas Jefferson declaring the colonies separation from British rule.
