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1215
Magna Carta
Meaning "The Great Charter" the Magna Carta is one of the most important documents of all times. This charter established the idea that everyone is under the law including the king. It also established individual rights, the right to justice, and the right to a fair trial. -
Jamestown settled
On this date 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to create a settlement. This settlement of Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
Mayflower Compact written
The Mayflower Compact was Plymouth Colony's first governing document. It expressed the deep faith and belief in God, loyalty to native England and to the King, mutual regard for one another as equals in the sight of God, and intent to establish just and equal laws upon which would be built a truly democratic form of government. -
Petition of Right
Was a statement of civil liberties sent to Charles I, the king, by the English Parliament. It's main ideas where no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is an important act in the law of England. The Bill of Rights limited the power of the monarchy, elevated the status of Parliament and outlined specific rights of individuals -
Albany Plan of Union
This was a plan suggested by Benjamin Franklin. It's purpose was as a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. -
Stamp Act
An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which taxed the British colonies in America. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal and helped encourage the revolution -
American Revolution begins
The confrontation between British troops and local militia at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts marked the beginning of a long conflict over the independence of the north american colonies from Great Britain. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed in Boston. It made colonists more upset with British rule and unfair taxation which farther invigorated them to fight for independence -
Boston Tea Party
A protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston in which protest dressed as natives boarded ships and threw tea into the harbor. This farther fueled the tension that had already begun between Britain and America. -
First Continental Congress
A meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies in Philadelphia. It's purpose was to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts . -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. The acts closed Boston Harbor, replaced the elective local government with an appointive one, allowed British officials charged with capital offenses to be tried in another colony or in England, and permitted the housing of British troops in unoccupied buildings. -
Second Continental Congress
A meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in Philadelphia. It functioned as a national government by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing treatises. -
Declaration of Independence
One of the most important documents in the history of the United States overall summarizing the colonists' motivations for seeking independence. It contained the ideas that people have certain Inalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness; All Men are created equal; and Individuals have a civic duty to defend these rights for themselves and others. -
Articles of Confederation
This is the original constitution of the US. The Articles of Confederation created a very weak central government composed of a congress which had the power to declare war, appoint military officers, sign treaties, make alliances, appoint foreign ambassadors, and manage relations with natives. The states had the power to tax, not congress. -
Shay’s Rebellion
This was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in opposition to a debt crisis. It underscored weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention. This agreement led to the the creation of congress being made of the House of Representatives and the Senate -
Philadelphia Convention
The point of this event was decide how America was going to be governed after the perceived failure of the Articles of Confederation. The major debates during the convention were over representation in Congress, the powers of the president, how to elect the president, slave trade, and a bill of rights.
