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Period: Feb 2, 1200 to
Chapter 2 Timeline
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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Is a charter agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. Confronted by 40 rebellious barons, he consented to their demands in order to avert civil war. Just 10 weeks later, Pope Innocent III nullified the agreement, and England plunged into internal war. -
Petition of Right
a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. Passed on 7 June 1628, the Petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and the use of martial law. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights ays down limits on the powers of the Crown and sets out the rights of Parliament, including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament. It set out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and reestablished the liberty of Protestants to have arms for their defence within the rule of law. -
Albany Plan of Union
A proposal to create a unified goverment for the 13 colonies, which was suggested by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts, to enforce heavy taxation put into place by the Townshed Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
Served as a protest against taxation. Seeking to boost the troubled East India Company, British Parliament adjusted import duties with the passage of the Tea Act in 1773. While consignees in Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia rejected tea shipments, merchants in Boston refused to concede to Patriot pressure. On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. This resulted in the passage of th -
First Continental Congress
Was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met on September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution.The Congress was attended by 55 delegates appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the thirteen colonies.The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention for delagates from the 13 colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. The Congress was to take charge of the war effort. This became Americas first goverment. -
The Decleration of Independence
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. Instead they formed a new nation the United States of America. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confeeration was the first constitution of the United States. The ratification of the Articles did not occur in the 13 colonies until March 1, 1781. -
Shay's Rebellion
Was an armed uprising that took place in Massachusetts.Fueled by perceived economic terrorism and growing disaffection with State and Federal governments, Revolutionary war veteran Daniel Shay led a group of rebels, in rising up first against Massachusetts' courts, and later in marching on the United States' Federal Armory at Springfield in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. -
Philidelphia Convention
Delegates from the various states met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Among the first orders of business was electing George Washington president of the Convention and establishing the rules--including complete secrecy concerning its deliberations--that would guide the proceedings. The main business of the Convention began four days later when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented and defended a plan for new structure of government (called the "Virginia Plan") that had -
Virgina Plan
The Virginia Plan (also known as the Randolph Plan, after its sponsor, or the Large-State Plan) was a proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. -
New Jersey Plan
A proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787.The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan, which called for two houses of Congress, both elected with apportionment according to population.The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the more populous states, and so proposed an alternative plan that would have kept the one-
