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Period: Jan 26, 1200 to
Sams timline
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Jan 26, 1215
Magna Carta
Great Charter forced upon King John of Engllnad by his borons in 1215. Established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed ttrial by jury and due process of law to the nobility. -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. -
English Bill of Rights
Document written by Parliament and agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689. Designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs, forms the basis for much in American government and politics today. -
Albony Plan of Union
Plan produced by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite 13 colonies for trade, military and other purposes. The plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown. -
Boston Massacre
Street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Boston Tea Party
In 1771, a group of colonists protest thirteen years of increasing British oppression, by attacking merchant ships in Boston Harbor. In retaliation, the British close the port, and inflict even harsher penalties. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met on September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
The fundamental document establishing the United States as a nation, adopted on July 4, 1776. The declaration was ordered and approved by the Continental Congress and written largely by Thomas Jefferson. -
Philadelphia Convention
By 1786, Americans recognized that the Articles of Confederation, the foundation document for the new United States adopted in 1777, had to be substantially modified. The Articles gave Congress virtually no power to regulate domestic affairs--no power to tax, no power to regulate commerce. -
Articles of Confederation
Plan of government adopted by the Contential Congress after the American Revolution. Esablished "a firm league of friendship" among the states, but allowed few impoprtant powers to the central government. -
Shay's Rebellion
Armed uprising that took place in Massachusetts (mostly in and around Springfield) during 1786 and 1787, which some historians believe "fundamentally altered the course of United States' [sic] history." -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan (also widely known as the Small State Plan or the Paterson Plan) was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
Virginia Plan
Plan presented by delegates from Virginia at the Constitutional Convection, called fro a three-branch government with a bicameral legislature in which each states membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the cental governmant.
