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1215
Magna Carta
a government document written by the English nobles that limited the power of the king and gave it to the people, written in England, as a result the people under the king's power had more freedom and were treated better. This is very important because we begin to see limited government. -
Mayflower Compact
an agreement between individuals written by the men on the mayflowers to make a government equal to everyone and everyone must follow it, it was written on the Mayflower itself. The pilgrims stayed loyal to King James but they also had freedom and their own government, this compact established the rule of law. -
English Bill of Rights
a government document written by the Parliament for better treatment of the English people, as a result the people of England received better treatment, this is important because it is where we get our rights from. -
Cato's Letters
a collection of newspaper articles written by Cato the elder and Cato the younger that argued against the king's rule, written in Britain, as a result industrious individuals fought the privileged corporate. This was very important because it was one of the first acts of rebellion on the ruler of a country. -
Mercantilism
A theory that a country should sell more goods from another countries then it buys -
French and Indian War
Great Britain vs. France over territory in America, Britain won the France territories which helped pay off war debt and pay for ruling the new lands -
Stamp Act
basically required colonist to pay taxes on stamps for all newspapers and legal documents, the colonist were mad they had no representatives in Parliament, "no taxation without representation", the colonist boycotted British goods, Parliament eventually repealed the Stamp Act. -
Declaratory Act
after the Stamp act was repealed the Declaratory Act stated that the Parliament could make decisions for the colonies "in all cases" -
Townshed Act
Created taxes on basic goods the colonies could not produce, this angered the colonist even more and they continued to boycott as previously done over the Stamp Act. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shot and killed several colonist after being harassed by a mob. -
Tea Act
allowed British East India Company to ship tea to the colonist without most of the taxes placed on tea, also allowed to bypass colonial merchants and sell directly to shop owners for cheaper, colonist blocked all ships from colony ports, a group of colonist dressed as Native Americans and dumped 342 chest of tea into the ocean known as the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
Party protesters in Boston destroy a ship’s cargo of East Indian tea. -
Intolerable Act/ Coercive Act
denied colonist simple rights and allowed British soldiers to search and move into colonist homes, colonist banned together and sent representatives to Philadelphia to discuss. -
First Continental Congress
meeting in Philadelphia lasted 7 weeks, delegates sent document to the king demanding the rights of the colonist be restored also planned to extend the boycott, if demands were not met by next year they would meet again, this resulted in two battles between Britain and colonist. -
Lexington & Concord
first battles of the revolutionary war, colonist began to question their loyalty to Britain, many people began talking about independence. -
Second Continental Congress
first resembled to discuss independence, few were still loyal others thought they could never win against Great Britain, after Thomas Paine's Common sense more than half of the Second agreed with him and wanted independence. -
Common Sense
a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that promoted self-government and that the colonies should separate from under Britain's rule. As a result, six months later, the constitution was written which is very significant in our history, it is the beginning of our freedom. -
Declaration of Independence
the Second appointed a committee to write a document declaring independence, Thomas Jefferson did most of the work, the document basically argued that Britain didn't look after the interest of the colonist.
