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Jun 15, 1215
The Magna Carta of England
King John was forced into signing the charter because it greatly reduced the power he held as the King of England and allowed for the formation of a powerful parliament. -
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Colonial Times
Colonial Times -
The House of Burgesses
During 1619, the small English colony at Jamestown was essentially a failure. Fearful of losing their investment, the officers of the Virginia Company of London embarked upon a series of reforms designed to attract more people to the troubled settlement. -
Mayflower Voyage
The Mayflower was the ship used to bring over pilgrims loking for freedom -
The Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was an agreement made by the pilgrims for eqal laws and rights, making the New World a free land. -
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John Locke's life span
John Locke the British philosopher was known for his liberal, anti-authoritarian theory of the state, his empirical theory of knowledge, his advocacy of religious toleration, and his theory of personal identity. -
Roger Williams founded Rhode Isalnd
Roger Williams founded Rhode Island at Providence. He had been banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his belief of segregation of church and state. He believed in freedom of religion. Because Anne Hutchinson spoke out opposing the church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was also banned. She created Portsmouth. Rhode Island was the first colony to guarantee freedom of serve to all citizens. Rhode Island's industry included dairy, livestock, lumbering, and fishing. -
Puritans founded Harvard University
Puritans required a highly educated clergy, and so Harvard College was founded. Harvard's alumni made New England the only part of England's Atlantic empire to possess a college educated elite. -
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Montesquieu's life span
Montesquiue was a French satirist (writer using sarcasm to communicate his message) and social and political philosopher. Montesquieu was the first of the great French scholars associated with the Enlightenment (a philosophical movement in the eighteenth century that rejected traditional social and religious ideas by placing reason as the most important ideal). -
Parliament established the English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights was enacted by the English Parliament and singed into law by King William III in 1689.[1] It is one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law, and marks a fundamental milestone in the progression of English society from a nation of subjects under the plenary authority of a monarch to a nation of free citizens with inalienable rights. -
John Peter Zenger's trial
John Peter Zenger was a printer charged with the crime of seditious libel for publishing items in the New York Weekly Journal that pierced and teased the greedy royal governor of the colony of New York and his judicial appointees. John Peter Zenger was found not gouilty. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Colonists would burn stamped paper and protest. -
Harvard College metal engraving
There was a metal engraving of Harvard College, made by Paul Revere, who later became one of America's most famous patriot. -
First Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. -
Second Continental Congress
On May 10, 1775, the members of the Second Continental Congress met at the State House in Philadelphia. There were several new delegates including: John Hancock from Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania. -
Thomas Paine Finishes his Pamphlet "Common Sense"
On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet "Common Sense," setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries. -
The Articles of Confederatio
Because of their experience with Great Britain, the 13 states feared a powerful central government. Consequently, they changed Dickinson's proposed articles drastically before they sent them to all the states for ratification in November 1777. The Continental Congress had been careful to give the states as much independence as possible. The Articles deliberately established a confederation of sovereign states, carefully specifying the limited functions of the federal government. Despite these pr -
Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. -
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Daniel Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion, the post-Revolutionary clash between New England farmers and merchants that tested the precarious institutions of the new republic, threatened to plunge the "disunited states" into a civil war. The rebellion arose in Massachusetts in 1786, spread to other states, and culminated in the rebels' march upon a federal arsenal. It wound down in 1787 with the election of a more popular governor, an economic upswing, and the creation of the Constitution of the United States in Philadel
