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1215
Magna Carta
It was a contract that limited the power of the monarch by guaranteeing that no one would be above the law, not even the king or queen. This document protected the nobles privileges and upheld their authority. -
Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact stated that the government would make equal laws for the general good of the colony. The signers pledged to obey those laws. The compact set up a direct democracy, in which all men would vote, and the majority would rule. -
English Bill of Rights
The Parliament wrote the English bill of rights to expand the rights of the parliament and limit the kings power. -
Cato's Letters
The Cato's letter argued against the kings rules and brought up the issues of peoples rights -
French and Indian War
The war provided Great Britain territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent and to the American Revolution. -
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is the theory that a country should sell more
goods to other countries than it buys. For mercantilism to be
successful, Great Britain needed the colonies to be a source of
cheap, raw materials. -
Stamp Act
Required colonists to attach expensive tax stamps to all newspapers and legal documents. -
Declaratory Act
Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had the right to tax and make decisions for the American colonies. -
Townshend Act
These laws levied new taxes on goods imported to the colonies. The taxed goods included basic items, like glass, tea, paper, and lead, that the colonists needed because they did not produce them. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act gave the British East India Company the right to ship tea to the colonies without paying most of the taxes usually placed on tea.The act also allowed the company to bypass colonial merchants and sell tea directly to shopkeepers at low prices. -
Intolerable Act/ Coercive Act
Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, which Americans called the Intolerable Acts. These laws restricted the colonists’ rights, including the right to trial by jury. The Intolerable Acts also allowed British soldiers to search, and even move into, colonists’ homes. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. The colonists did this to protest further taxes on tea. -
First Continental Congress
The delegates sent a document to King George III demanding that the rights of the colonists be restored. -
Lexington and Concord
Two battles between British and colonial soldiers. These became the first battles of the Revolutionary War. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonial leaders convened the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The Congress spent many months debating over the best course of action. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine wrote common sense to explain arguments for independence to the common people in a way they can understand. -
Declaration of Independence
The Congress, appointed a committee to write a document that would officially announce the independence of the United
States.
