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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written by the first continental congress. It was basically a list of complaints to the King of England, and to enforce their reasons to gain independence.
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed my their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." -
Articles of Confederation endorsed by the Continental Congress and submitted to the colonies for ratification
This established a system for cooperation or "league of friendship" among independent states. This would be the first constitution of the United States. This was the outcome of the second continental congress. -
Articles of Confederation
The articles set up a legislature in which each state had one vote.This was eventually called the Confederation Congress and was the only government body with power over the army and power to deal with other countries. -
Treaty of Paris is signed
The states had finally won the Revolutionary war, gaining independence from Great Britan. However, the states were faced with debt because Congress was unable to collect taxes. This made many of the states, mainly the southern states, angry with the Congress. -
Land ordinance passed
Congress had created a system for surveying and selling western lands because only a few thousand settlers lived there. Tis arranged the land into townships six by six miles. Each township was divided into 36 sections one mile wide. At first this only applied to the Northwest territory. -
Ordinance of Religious freedom
This was written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by Virginia legislature. This would lead to separation of church and state, and was petitioned by 3 different sects of the church, being Baptists, Presbyterians and methodist. The ordinance would later become the model for the first Constitution. -
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Shays Rebellion
Shay's rebellion was a event that took place in the southern area. Shay lead 1,200 men to fight against federal arsenal in Spring field. This was an important cause leading to the creation of a new constitution -
Constitutional convention in Philedelphia
Deputies of the convention were appointed by legislatures of different states.This was the time that it was thought that the United States have the three main branches we have today, legislative, executive, and judiciary. This convention to help establish the government took many weeks to finalize and produce. -
Northwest Ordinance
This was enacted by congress to provide incorporation of three to five states in the Northwest territories. This would also include the establishment of a bicameral assembly, freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, public education, and a ban on slavery. Today the states added are known as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Winsconsin. -
Constitution endorsed
Congress had endorsed the constitution and sent it to the legislature for ratification. This would take a long time because of the people who still opposed the constitution called anti-federalists. They would only agree to the constitution if they were happy with the content. -
The Great Comprimise
The Great comprimise, or Conneticut comprimise, was presented by Roger Sherman. This was to reconcile the Virginia and New Jersey plans and advocating equal represetation in the congress. Eventually it was decided that it would split into two different sides, a senate that would host equal representation and a house of representatives that used the states population. -
Federalist papers begin to publish
Federalists are those that support the constitution and what it stood for. The main authors for the papers were Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. This was to inform the citizens of the political progress of the counrty. -
The constitution is in effect
Finally the constitution was completed and had given the nation a more refined way of governing the country. In order for the constitution to have been completed it required a two thirds vote for the event. It had taken months to finalize the constitution. -
George Washington elected first President
Washington was rather reluctant to uphold such a responsibility to the country out of fear the blame of failure would be placed on him. However he was the best suited for the job because he already had the county's trust and had helped to gain their independence. His original title was to be 'His highness the president of the united states of america and protecter of their liberties' by congress, but quickly turned down by Washington in place of 'Mr. President'. -
War and Treasury departments established
The first secretary of war was Henry Knox, and the first secretary of treasury was Alexander Hamilton. Because of the Revolutionary war, the states were in a debt and the continental congress began to use bills of credit to form an econemy. War department would be able to work with treasury to ensure their wars would be able to give positive financial feedback. -
Federal judiciary act is passed
This was to detail the judicial branch of the government that the constitution had given the base line for. Also to comprimise between those who wanted full jurestiction under the constitution to not acknowledge any lower federal courts, and those who acknowledged state courts. William Paterson and Oliver Ellsworth were the main authors of the act. -
Bill of rights is submitted
The bill of rights was made to protect basic rights to the citizens. Among these include freedom of peech, press, assembly and exercise of religion. In order for the bill to be passed it would require a two-thirds majority vote. -
Thomas Jefferson oficially named secretary of state
At the time, Jefferson was Minister of France, but Washington appointed him to his new place under the new Constitution. He spent 3 years in this office, and helped America with their affiliations with France and England. Some of the reasons he was legible for the office was his many years of experience as an American minister and French minister, as well as being the most famous American political philosipher of his time. -
Bill of rights ratified
The first ten ammendments of the constitution become te bill of rights. The American bill of rights was partially influenced by the English bill of rights and the revolutionary war. Virginia was the last of the states to approve the bill of rights, finally giving it enough majority to be ratified.
