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Period: Jan 1, 1200 to
Government Timeline
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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The charter granted by King John at Runneymede, recognizing the rights and priviledges of the barons, church and freemen. -
Petition of Right
A major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. -
English Bill of Rights
An English precursor of the Constitution, along with the Magna Carta and Petition of Right. It limited the power of the English sovereign and was written as an act of parliment. -
Albany Plan of Union
A plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. -
Boston Massacre
The killing of five British regulars. It was an effect of the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists protest thirteen years of increasing British oppression, by attacking merchant ships in Boston Harbor. -
First Continental Congress
A meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies. At Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from the thirteen colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775 in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. Soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
Declaration of Independence
The usual name of a statement adopted by the Continental Congress. It announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britian, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Articles of Confederation
The first written constitution. This is the date all thirteen states ratified it. -
Shay's Rebellion
An armed uprising that took place in Massachusets, which some historians believe "fundementally altered the course of United States' history". -
Virginia Plan
A proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison. -
Philadelphia Convention
A meeting held by delegates from the thirteen states that then compromised the United States. At first the purpose was to address the problems the federal government was having ruling the states and fiscally sound under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation. What actually occured was the formation of a new plan of government. -
New Jersey Plan
A proposal for the structure for the United States Government presented by Willaim Paterson at the Constitutional Convention. Primarily a response to the Virginia Plan.
