American Government

By andrew.saquic
  • Jun 15, 1215

    Magna Carta

    The Magna Carta (“Great Charter”) is a document guaranteeing English political liberties that were drafted at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames, and signed by King John on June 15, 1215, under pressure from his rebellious barons.

  • Declaration of independence

    The Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States, was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

  • Articles of Confederation

    Articles of Confederation, first U.S. constitution (1781–89), which served as a bridge between the initial government by the Continental Congress of the Revolutionary period and the federal government provided under the U.S. Constitution of 1787.

  • Constitutional convention

    Constitutional Convention, (1787), in U.S. history, convention that drew up the Constitution of the United States. Stimulated by severe economic troubles, which produced radical political movements such as Shays’s Rebellion, and urged on by a demand for a stronger central government, the convention met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia (May 25–September 17, 1787), ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation.

  • United States Constitution

    The United States Constitution is the fundamental law of the United States of America. It was proposed on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was then ratified by conventions in each state.

  • Judiciary Act of 1789

    Judiciary Act of 1789, in full 1789 Judiciary Act, act establishing the organization of the U.S. federal court system, which had been sketched only in general terms in the U.S. Constitution.

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Plessy v. Ferguson, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on May 18, 1896, by a seven-to-one majority (one justice did not participate), advanced the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.

  • Gregory v. Chicago

    In Gregory v. City of Chicago, 394 U.S. 111 (1969), the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the First Amendment rights of peaceful civil rights protestors over the overzealous actions of police attempting to quell anticipated civil disorder.

  • Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.

    Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, on February 24, 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court 7–2) the free speech and political rights of students in school settings. On the basis of the majority decision in Tinker v. Des Moines, school officials who wish to regulate student expression must be able to demonstrate that student expressive activities would result in material and substantial interference with the operations of the school or invade the rights of others.