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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta ("Great Charter")
Created as peace treaty between King John and his barons, it is the first document that declares the right to justice and a fair trial for free man. Magna Carta’s most important legacy is that everyone – including our leaders – must obey the law. After several amendments it becomes part of the English Law in 1297. Magna Carta had a strong influence both on the US Constitution and on the constitutions of the various states. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xo4tUMdAMw -
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The French and Indian War
The English and the French battled for colonial domination in North America, the Caribbean, and in India. The English dominated the colonial outposts, but at the cos was so high that the resulting debt nearly destroyed the English government. Parliament generated act to tax the colonies to finance their protection as they did not have the right to defend themselves. -
The Albany Congress
Representatives from 7 colonies met with 150 Iroquois Chiefs in Albany, New York, with the main goal to try to secure the support and cooperation of the Iroquois in fighting the French, and to form a colonial alliance based on a plan by Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin's union plan became the base of the Articles of Confederation later used to unite the colonies against the British. -
Proclamation of 1763
The end of the French & Indian war opened opportunities for the colonists. The Great Western Frontier had opened to them when the French ceded the contested territory to the British. The proclamation, however, provided that all lands West of the heads of all rivers, which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from the West, were off-limits to the colonists. The king was interested to keep the fur trade with the Native Americans, deteriorating the relations between settlers, Native Americans, & King. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act reduced tax rate on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, and the act was strictly enforced. The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed, including sugar. The enforced tax on molasses caused decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The situation disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies could sell, and the amount of currency available to them for the purchase of British manufactured goods. -
The Currency Act
The colonies suffered a shortage of currency to conduct trade. There were no gold or silver mines and currency could only come through trade as regulated by Great Britain. Many colonies were printing their own paper money in the form of Bills of Credit without control. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of existing currency. Colonial governments petitioned its repeal as they were already suffering a postwar economic slowdown. -
The Stamp Act
Parliament wanted to raise money needed for military defenses of the colonies. This was the first non trade tax imposed to them. British taxpayers already paid a stamp tax but the Stamp Act imposed on colonial residents went further than the existing ones. The Act required colonist to purchase a stamp to be affixed to all paper items. Colonist protested and refused taxation without representation. -
The Quartering Act of 1765
The act required colonial assemblies on their own dime to provide housing (barracks or empty buildings), food and drink to British troops stationed in their towns with the purpose of improving living conditions and decreasing the cost to the crown. Colonial legislatures agreed to the new law even though the expense to fund the troops was seen as a tax. New York being main port of arrival and departure refused to raised the money. -
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The Stamp Act Congress - Amazing things are happening.
The colonists are angered by this “taxation without representation” in Parliament. They form the Stamp Act Congress to resist the law. 27 delegates from 9 colonies met in New York as the Stamp Act Congress. Petitioning the king for repeal of the Stamp Act, the delegates also encouraged colonists to boycott British goods, especially clothing. Parliament repealed this act in 1766. This was the first major triumph for the colonies, the rebellion has begun. -
The Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was a reaction of British Parliament to the failure of the Stamp Act as they did not want to give up on the principle of imperial taxation asserting its legal right to tax colonies. The colonies did not have representation at the Imperial Parliament, it is too far to make informed tax decisions only local government can legislate on internal taxation. Colonies saw more taxes coming. -
The Townshend Revenue Act
The House of Commons and the House of Lords combine to form Britain's Parliament. Charles Townshend convinced the Parliament to impose a new tax on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea. They were applied to raise £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. Colonial hostilities created by the Stamp Act resurrected. Reaction assumed revolutionary proportions in Boston. Bostonians established non-importation agreements that quickly spread throughout the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. The soldiers open fired against the mob and several colonists were killed. The colonist were furious and drove the Royal Governor and its army out of the town of Boston. This was the signal that would soon bring the revolution to armed rebellion throughout the colonies. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was near bankruptcy and with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. This gesture was considered an strategy to reinforced the Townshed tax, but it would also affect the local merchants. All around coastal colonies, the colonist would not allow ships to unload their cargo. -
The Boston Tea Party
Governor Thomas Hutchinson allowed 3 ships carrying tea to enter Boston Harbor. Before the tax could be collected, Bostonians took action. Radical townspeople stormed the ships and tossed 342 chests of tea into the water. Disguised as Native Americans, the offenders could not be identified. -
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Intolerable Acts
As a consequence of the Bostonians refusing to pay for the property they had destroyed, the empire decided on a policy of coercion, to be applied only against Massachusetts, 5 acts were issued. Parliament closed the port of Boston, drastically reduced the powers of self-government in the colony, permitted royal officers to be tried in other colonies or in England when accused of crimes, and provided for the quartering of troops in the colonist barns and homes, triggering more rebellions. -
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First Continental Congress - Philadelphia
Elected representatives from all colonies except Georgia attended. They were determined to show a combined authority to Great Britain, but their aims were different, Pennsylvania and New York wanted resolution with England, the other colonies voices defended colonial rights, and evenly divided were those who wanted legislative parity, and the more radical members who were prepared for separation.They issued the Declaration and Resolves a statement of principles common to all the colonies. -
The Association (prohibition of trade with Great Britain)
This was a pact for non-importation of English goods, to establish mechanisms throughout the colonies to enforce and regulate the resistance to Great Britain, and to keep the channels of communication open. It was the first association to establish citizen committees to enforce the act throughout the colonies. It was to become effective on December 1, 1774 unless parliament should rescind the Intolerable Acts. -
Galloway's Plan Rejected
This was the first order of business for the First Continental Congress. New York, Pennsylvania, & New Jersey were especially concerned that the Colonies should reconcile with Great Britain. This was their plan for compromise. It proposed a popularly elected Grand Council which would represent the interests of the colonies as a whole, and would be a continental equivalent to the English Parliament. It was rejected by a margin of 1, due to the events in Boston that brought distrust on the crown. -
Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" Speech
Words from a speech by Patrick Henry urging the American colonies to revolt against England.
"Our brethren are already in the field.... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -
Minutemen and redcoats clash at Lexington and Concord "The shot heard 'round the world."
The British commander at Boston, Gen. Thomas Gage, wanted to avoid armed rebellion by sending a column of royal infantry from Boston to capture colonial military stores at Concord. News of his plan was dispatched to the countryside by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott. As the advance column reached Lexington, they came upon a group of militia (the minutemen). The colonials withdrew and the British destroy the military supplies at Concord. -
The Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia
After the incidents in Lexington and Concord a second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to discuss how to act upon the British military threat. The Congress decided to create a continental army, commanded by George Washington. They also decided to print money to finance the campaign supplies and a committee was formed to conduct foreign relations.This was the first full American governing body. -
Paine's "Common Sense" published
Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain.
This pamphlet sold 120,000 copies in the first three months and was instrumental in convincing many colonists that the time had come for Independence. -
The Virginia Declaration of Rights
The Virginia Convention unanimously adopts George Mason's declaration of rights. The assembled slaveholders of Virginia promised to “the good people of VIRGINIA and their posterity” the equal right to life, liberty and property, with the critical condition that the “people” were white men. It proclaimed the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. -
The First Virginia Constitution
Virginia was the first state to adopt its own constitution. It declared the dissolution of the rule of the British empire over Virginia. It established separate government powers, a general assembly -legislative and the Governor as the executive. It was accompany by the Virginia Declaration of Rights. It also declared that the right of vote will be granted to white man only.It was a model for other historic document such it is the U.S. Bill of Rights. -
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Congress debates and revises the Declaration of Independence.
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson the declaration of independence is the first document that declares that "all man are created equal" and have inalienable rights, such life, liberty and the pursue of happiness and that it is a duty of the government to protect these rights and that government power derives from the consent of those governed. Declaration of Independence became a significant landmark in the history of democracy. -
Continental Congress proposes Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. The articles proclaimed that the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. But it lacked the ability to impose taxes and regulate commerce. Ratified in 1781. -
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Paris
Peace commissioners John Adams and John Jay and Benjamin Franklin engaged the British in formal negotiations. The British accepted American independence and boundaries, resolved the difficult issues of fishing rights on the Newfoundland banks and prewar debts owed British creditors, promised restitution of property and evacuated British forces from the 13 states. Negotiations started in Sept 1782 and the treaty was signed on this date. -
U.S. Constitution signed
The U.S. Constitution established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. Signed by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, presided by George Washington, it devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches–executive, legislative and judicial–along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power. The Bill of Rights–10 amendments were added in 1791.
