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1215
Magna Carta
When King John inherited the throne in 1199 he treated nobles very badly, as a result The nobles rebelled in 1215 and forced King John to sign an agreement (The Magna Carta). This document protected the nobles priveleges and authority. It granted rights like equal treatment under law and trial by one's peers. The Magna Carta limited the power of the Monarchs. -
Mayflower Compact
In 1620 after the House of Burgesses was formed a group called the pilgrims who were colonists showed up in America. The pilgrims built a settlement called Plymouth miles from North of Virginia before their ship (the Mayflower) arrived in America the Plymouth colonists knew that they needed to make some rules to govern themselves if they knew were going to try and survive in a new land. They decided to draw up a new written agreement and 41 of the men signed it. The mayflower compact. -
English Bill of Rights
From the time of the Glorious Revolution that changed the government in England, no ruler would have more power than the legislature. To clarify this, the parliament decided to create the English bill of rights. This document stated that members of parliament would be elected and would be granted free speech at meetings and every citizen would have a right to a fair trial and cruel, punishments would be banned. It also stated that monarchs could not suspend parliaments laws. -
Cato's Letters (1720-1723)
Cato's letters were written by Cato the Elder and Cato the younger, in Britain and in colonial America, they published a series of newspaper editorials. They argued against the king's rule, their letters were so popular they were turned into a book. The letters discussed many ideas such as freedom of expression, which was very influential in the colonies. It talked also brought up issues of peoples rights. -
Mercantilism
When George III took the throne, there was a policy called mercantilism adopted by the British. With this policy, they would try to take a lot of wealth out of the British colonies in America and from other colonies too. Mercantilism is where a country should sell more goods for other countries to buy. Parliament made it a requirement that the American colonies sell raw materials to Great Britain at low prices, colonists bought British products at high prices. Colonial businesses suffered. -
French and Indian War (1754-1763)
Great Britain and France fought a long costly war against one another, The French and Indian war won territory over in North America. To cover costs for heavy war debts and ruling over new land, Britain decided to place taxes on the American colonies. -
Stamp Act
In Great Britain, Parliament passed something called the stamp act. This required colonists to put expensive tax stamps on all documents and newspapers. The colonists resented the British taxes, because of a situation the colonists were causing this led to the stamp acts repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the Crown. -
Declaratory Act
The same day as they repealed the stamp act parliament created the Declaratory act. This act stated that parliament had the power/right to make decisions and tax the American colonies. -
Townshend Act
A year later after the Declaratory Act, parliament creates a new set of laws called the Townshend act. This act levied taxes on goods that the colonists could not produce for themselves that they really needed. This made the colonists very upset and they decided to bring back the same boycott that they used on parliament with the stamp act. -
Boston Massacre
This event occurred in Boston on King street, it was a riot that resulted in many deaths. At first, it started as a street brawl between some colonists and a British soldier, then it led to a huge slaughter. The situation triggered the anti-British sentiment and made way for the American revolution. -
Tea Act
The relationship between colonists and Great Britain got worse. So parliament makes a new act, the tea act. It let British east India company ship tea to the colonists without having to pay most of the taxes they usually had put on tea. It also let the company sell tea directly to shopkeepers at low prices and bypass colonial merchants. This gave the company an advantage over colonial merchants. Colonist knew this was another attempt at crushing their liberty so they blocked the companies ships. -
Boston Tea Party
It all started with the colonists dressing up as Native Americans and dumping around 342 chests of tea into Boson harbor. The colonists did this because they were protesting the taxes on tea, Parliament's reaction to this was that they created the intolerable acts. -
Intolerable Act/Coercive Act
The Coercive Acts were a result of the Boston tea party. This act made it to where it restricted the colonists from including the right to trial by jury and allowed British soldiers to move and search in the colonist's homes. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress formed because the Americans demanded more rights. The American colonists were separated from Great Britain so this made it to where the colonists gained valuable experience in self-government. Then by mid-1700, the British gov. noticed how strong and confident they were getting so they knew they had to tighten their grasp on the colonies. -
Lexington & Concord
One of the first war/battles of the revolutionary war was two battles between soldiers, one from Britain and one from the colonies, and it took place in Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonial leaders created this congress in Philadelphia. Not everyone in the congress liked independence, some even thought that the colonists would never win against great Britain. Some of the others were still loyal to their home country, but it took many months for them to come to a formal decision about what they were going to do. While they were debating on what to do, support for independence was growing and thats when Thomas Paine stepped in with his pamphlet called common sense. -
Common Sense
Thomas pain, an American colonist wrote a pamphlet called common sense that inspired many colonists. He encouraged the colonists to support the fight for independence from Britain and put it in a simple language that the colonist could understand. A few months later the Declaration of independence was signed -
Declaration of Independence
Just 6 months after Thomas Paine wrote his pamphlet called common sense, Declaration of Independence was signed. The congress was acting as a government for the colonists and appointed a committee to write a document that would announce the independence for the U.S. Thomas Jefferson did most of the work for writing the declaration of independence, it explained why America should be a free nation. It talked about how the British gov. did not look after the interests and issues of the colonists.
