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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Signed by King John on June 15, 1215; this was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property by the king. Two key principles expressed in the Magna Carta that exist today are: "no freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed," and "To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice." -
Jamestown Settled
This was America's first settled English colony, before the pilgrims in Massachusetts. The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier. -
Petition of Rights
A major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited of infringing. It contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restricts the use of martial law. -
English Bill of Rights
This bill of rights was written to limit the power of the English monarch, and was written as an act of Parliament. It asserted that Englishmen had certain inalienable civil and political rights. Unless Parliament consented, monarchs could not establish their own court or be judges themselves. They could not impose fines or punishments without a trial and freedom of speech was protected. -
Albany Plan of Union
A plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government, It was never carried out, however it was the first important plan to conceived of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government. -
Stamp Act
The British parliament passed this to tax all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used such as documents, licenses, and even playing cards. The Stamp Act was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. -
Boston Massacre
Also known as the Incident on King Street by the British. British army soldiers open-fired and killed five civilian men and injured six others. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of Massachusetts Patriots, protesting the monopoly on American tea importation recently granted by Parliament to the East India company, seized 342 chests of tea in a midnight raid on three tea ships and threw them into the harbor. "No taxation without representation" -
Intolerable Acts
These were laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. These acts stripped Massachusetts of their self-government and historic rights, thus angering the thirteen colonies. Parliament intended to reverse the colonial resistance, however this only led to more rebellion and eventually the American Revolution. -
First Continental Congress
This was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies, Georgia did not attend, early during the Amercian Revolution. It was called in response to the Coercive Acts, Intolerable Acts which was punishment for the Boston Tea Party, by British Parliament. There were 56 members from the twelve colonies, in which were hoping for British assistance with Indian problems. -
American Revolution
This began in Lexington, Massachusetts when shots were fired one morning and one British soldier was wounded while eight men of Lexington were killed. Seeing the British approach, Captain John Parker proclaimed to his men: "Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon. But, if they want to have a war, let it begin here." After this, the war continued on for eight more years. -
Second Continental Congress
The second congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved towards independence, evetually adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This congress acted as the first national government by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties. -
Declaration of Independence
This documental was adopted by the thirteen orginal colonies regarding themselves as independent states, and no longer part of the British empire. It insisted they would form a union that would become a new nation, The United States of America. Thomas Jefferson was the key writer of the declaration and congress voted, a year after the outbreak of the American Revolution, it into power on July 2; however, Independence Day is celebrated on July 4. -
Articles of Confederation
This served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britian. It established a weak central government that mostly prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. -
Shay's Rebellion
A series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. The rebellion mainly focused on Massachusetts where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. -
Philadelphia Convention
This convention was to address the problems in governing the United States, which was operating under the Articles of Confederation after independence from Great Britian. George Washington was elected to preside over the convention. The result, was the creation of the United States Constitution. -
Constitution Convention
This convention was to address the problems in governing the United States, which was operating under the Articles of Confederation after independence from Great Britian. George Washington was elected to preside over the convention. The result, was the creation of the United States Constitution. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that large and small states defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house.
