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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Required King John to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbituary. It was an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. -
Jamestown Settled
Was the first successful settlement on the mainland of North America. -
Mayflower Compact Written
The first governing document of Plymouth Colony, fleeing religious persecution. -
Petition Of Right
Sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. Contains restrictions on non-parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restrictsthe use of martial law. -
English Bill Of Rights
Aa restatement in satutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament. Lays down limits on the powers of sovereign and sets out the rights of parliament and rules for freedom of speech, right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. -
Albany Plan Of Union
An early attempt at forming a union of colonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes. -
Stamp Act
A direct tax imposed by the British Parliament, required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper; legal documents,magazines, newspapers and others used throughout the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers killed 5 civillian man and injured six others, in Boston after being ordered there to protect colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary Legistlation. -
Boston Tea Party
A political protest by the Sons of Liberty against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies, colonist destroyed tea by throwing it into the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Are names used to describe a series of laws passed by British Parliament relating to Britains colonies in North Ameriica, important developments in the growth of the American Revolution. -
First Contental Congress
Convention of delegates from twelve British North America colonies that met because the Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. -
American Revolution Begins
A political upheaval in which thirteen colonies joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. -
Second Continental Congress
Delegates from thirteen colonies that managed the colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence adopting the Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence
Announced that thirteen colonies regarded themeselves as independent states and no longer part of the British Empire. -
Articles of Confedera
This was agreed to by congress, ratified in force March 1, 1781 among thirteen states that established the United States as a confederation of sovereign states and first constitution. -
Constitutional Convention
To address problems in governing the United States of America. -
Shay's Rebellion
Armed uprising that took place in Massachusetts and named after Daniel Shay, precipitated by a lack of hard currency and fiscally harsh government policies instituted in 1785 to solve the state's debt problems. -
Philadelphia Convention
Two continental Congress voted for independence; to address problems in governing the US to create new government rather than fixing the existing one. -
Conneticut Comprimise
An agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitution Convention that defined the legistlative structure and representation that each state would have under the US constitution.
