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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is the “great charter” of English liberties, forced from King John by the English barons and sealed at. Magna Carta was written because Because King John of England ignored the laws, abused his power,and increased taxes, and lost land in france. It is still important today because it is one of the first documents to show the establishment of a democracy. -
French and Indian War
The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was a document issed by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was a colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. The Sugar Act wanted to stop smuggling and increase tax revenue, and it lowered debt. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
Quartering Act
Quartering Act is a name given to a minimum of two Acts of British Parliament in the local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with any needed accommodations or housing. -
Formation of the Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was an organization of American colonists that was created in the Thirteen American Colonies. The secret society was formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. The leaders were John and Samuel Adams. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767, by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Tea Act
The policy ignited a “powder keg” of opposition and resentment among American colonists and was the catalyst of the Boston Tea Party. The price of tea is reduced by eliminating the american merchants from shipping tea to the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, MA. The Boston Tea Party happened as a result of “taxation without representation” , and the Tea Act. It is known that 116 people are documented to have participated. Many of the Sons of Liberty attempted to pass themselves off as Mohawk Indians because if caught for their actions they would have faced severe punishment. -
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
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies, which became the governing body of the United States, that met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. -
Shot heard around the World
In Lexington Massachusetts, the first shot was fired which created the revolution war. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage sent 700 soldiers to take and destroy guns and ammunition that the colonists were keeping in Concord. Also, they planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, which were the two main leaders of the patriot movement. -
2nd Continental Congress
Congress men met in the state of PA, in Philadelphia. This all started with the battle of Lexington and Concord to discuss their next steps. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Bunker Hill
The first great battle of the Revolutionary War; it was fought near Boston. The British drove the Americans from their fort at Breed's Hill to Bunker Hill, but only after the Americans had run out of gunpowder. Before retreating, the Americans killed many British troops. -
Publication of Common Sense
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine.It inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of whether or not to seek independence was the central issue of the day. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood. -
Independence Day
Independence Day is the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation from Great Britain. It is impoertant because we celebrated out independence every year, and it shows how greatful we are to be a free nation. -
Battle of Saratoga
A major battle of the Revolutionary War, fought in 1777 in northern New York state. Benedict Arnold, who had not yet turned traitor, was a leader of the American offensive, which forced the surrender of British troops under General John Burgoyne. The Battle of Saratoga is often called the turning point of the war, because it increased the confidence of the French government in the American forces; France began sending aid the next year. -
Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress. This document served as the United States' first constitution, and was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present day Constitution went into effect.The Articals of Confederation was significant because the 13 colonies for the first time vested certain powers in a national government. After the revolution, these colonies went back to holding the power of government unto themselves until the continental congress disc -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was the military camp in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–1778 during the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay’s Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. -
Constitutional Convention
A constitutional convention is a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution. -
Great Compromise
The Great Compromise was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States -
The Consitution
The Constituion is a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed. -
Federalist Papers
The Federalist is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. It was written to persuade the voters of New York to adopt the Constitution. The essays are considered a classic defense of the American system of government, as well as a classic practical application of political principles. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, also known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791, during the presidency of George Washington.
