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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Great Charter forced upon King John of England by his barons in 1215; established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute; guaranteed trial by jury and due process for the nobility. It is important to English history because it began its journey to democracy and the distribution of English power. -
House of Burgess
The first legislative assembly in the American colonies. The first assembly met on July 30, 1619, in the church at Jamestown. Present were Governor Yeardley, Council, and 22 burgesses representing 11 plantations (or settlements) Burgesses were elected representatives. This led to the development of the legislative branch. -
Petition of Right
This document is significant to England because it is leading them towards the fair government they have today and they are trying to get the King to feel equal to society.
Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1628; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land. -
English Bill of Rights
A document that was written by Parliament and agreed to by William and Mary of England in 1689. It wasdesigned to prevent the abuse of power by English monarchs. It is significant in shaping the English government and taking away the power of the monarchs. This helped shape our Bill of Rights. -
Albany Plan of Union
A plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin to unite the colonies and make them become more of a collective federation. It was rejected by King George. It is significant because it sparked tension which lead to revolution and caused us to unite anyways. -
Stamp Act Congress
Required colonists to pay for a stamp on all legal documents, and several other items which caused them to meet and boycott. This led to the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Massacre
A riot in Boston (March 5, 1770) arising from the resentment of Boston colonists toward British troops quartered in the city, in which the troops fired on the mob and killed several persons. This is significant in American history because it led to the American Revolution. -
Boston Tea Party
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 the punitive Coercive Acts in 1774 and pushed the two sides closer to war. This led to the American Revolution. -
1st Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. This is significant because it led to discussion of a revolution. -
Revolutionary War
The war for American independence from Britain. The fighting began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775, and lasted through the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. -
2nd Continental Congress
It managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This led to our Independence. -
Decleration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. -
Articles of Confederation
A written agreement ratified in 1781 by the thirteen original states; it provided a legal symbol of their union by giving the central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens. This led to unifying our nation. -
Shays Rebellion
An uprising led by a former militia officer, Daniel Shays, which broke out in western Massachusetts in 1786. Shays's followers protested the foreclosures of farms for debt and briefly succeeded in shutting down the court system. -
Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
Including taxes on foreign imports but not any exports. cause of the compromise. ... an agreement during the constitutional convention of 1787 protecting the interest - of slaveholders by forbidding congress the power to tax the export of goods from any state. -
Philedelphia Convention
The gathering that drafted the Constitution of the United States in 1787; all states were invited to send delegates. The convention, meeting in Philadelphia, designed a government with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. This led to the shaping of our government including seperation of powers. -
Virginia Plan
Proposed by big states (with large population); representation based on population created by James Madison. This led to the development of the House of Representatives. -
New Jersey Plan
Proposed by small states; representation still equal; similar to Articles of Confederation, proposed by: William Paterson. -
Signing of the Constitution
The Constitution was written during the Philadelphia Convention—now known as the Constitutional Convention—which convened from May 25 to September 17, 1787. It was signed on September 17, 1787. This led to the development of our government. -
Federalist Papers
The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written (under the pseudonym Publius) by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution.
