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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. The Americans carried these laws and used them against the King of England later too. -
Jamestown Settled
Jamestown was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. -
Mayflower Compact Written
Was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists, fleeing from religious persecution by King James of Great Britain. They traveled aboard the Mayflower in 1620 -
Petition of Right
Is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing.The Petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restricts the use of martial law. -
English Bill of Rights
is an Act of the Parliament of England. It was a restatement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. -
Albany Plan of Union
Was a proposal to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin.The Plan represented an early attempt to form a union of the colonies "under one government." -
Stamp Act
Imposed a direct tax by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America, and it required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -
Boston Massacre
Known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men and injured six others. -
Boston Tea Party
Was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. -
Intolerable Acts
Was the Patriot name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea party. The acts stripped Massachusetts of self-government and historic rights, causing choas and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. -
First Continental Congress
Was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies (Georgia was not present) at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. -
Second Continental Congress
Was a convention of delegates from the thirteen colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. -
United States Declaration of Independence
Is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Articles of Confederation
An agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. -
American Revolution begins
Was a political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. -
Shays' Rebellion
Was an armed uprising that took place in central and western Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and one of the rebel leaders. -
Philadelphia Convention
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Constitution Convention
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Connecticut Compromise
Was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution.
