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Jun 15, 1215
The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was signed by England's King John and was the first document to limit the power of England's monarchs.It consisted of a series of written promises between the king and his subjects that he, the king, would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law. It established the principle that rulers are subject to law, which was a major step toward constitutional governement. -
Mar 7, 1569
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Its political structure—a semi-federal, semi-confederal aristocratic republic—was formed in 1569 by the Union of Lublin, which united the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, lasting in this form until the adoption of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. The Commonwealth covered not only the territories of what is now Poland and Lithuania, but also the entire territory of Belarus and Latvia, large parts of Ukraine and Estonia, and part of present-day western Russia. -
John Locke is born
John Locke was born in England and helped redefine the nature of government through his beliefs that the government had a duty to protect the natural rights of the people. He believed these rights included the right to life, liberty, and property. If the government failed to protect these rights, its citizens would have the right to overthrow that government. His ideas deeply influenced Thomas Jefferson as he drafted the Declaration of Independence. -
The Second Continental Congress was established
The Second Continental Congress became the nation's first national government and consisted of representatives from each of the 13 colonies. It served as the first governemnt of the U.S. for five years until the Articles of Confederation went into effect. The Second Continental Congress was responsible for borrowing funds, raising supplies, making treaties with foreign powers, and creating a money system during this time, -
Declaration of Independence
It was announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document which Congress would edit to produce the final version. -
Constitution
State ratifying conventions convened and ratified the new Constitution, which required 3/4ths (9) of the states to vote for its approval. The drafting of the Constitution began on May 25, 1787, when the Constitutional Convention met for the first time with a quorum at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, -
Rights of man
Entitled Reflections on the Revolution in France strongly appealed to the landed class and sold 30,000 copies.Edmund Burke's counterrevolutionary attack on the French Revolution, Rights of Man was printed by Joseph Johnson for publication then withdrawn for fear of prosecution. Paine argues that the interests of the monarch and his people are united, and insists that the French Revolution should be understood as one which attacks the despotic principles of the French monarchy, not the king. -
The Bill of Rights is added to the constitution
The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties.It lists specific prohibitions on governmental power in addition to several rights granted to the American people.For example, the people are granted the right to speak and worship freely.
