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1215
Magna carta
The King had taken all the power. Angry Nobles wrote up the document that gave power back to the people. Finally they forced him to sign it. -
Mayflower Compact
Pilgrims landing in Massachusetts decided to make some rules for their new society. Some of their ideals were to create their own government, agree that all laws will be followed by everyone, make sure that the new government would serve the common good -
English Bill of Rights
In England the parliament was fighting for rights. They wanted to lessen the power of the king. They succeeded and got free elections to parliament, the rights to bear arms, to petition the government, and to fair trial -
Cato's letters
The letters that were published in English newspapers, argued against the king's policies and for freedom. -
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French and Indian War
The war brought enormous territorial gains to Great Britain in North America, but disputes over border policy and expenses of the war resulted in colonial discontent and ultimately the American Revolution. -
Mercantilism
Mercantilism was a scheme invented by the British to squeeze money out of the Americas. They took cheap raw materials out of America to make money. It made the colonists resent them for making money off them. -
Stamp Act
The British began taxing things like stamps and newspapers in the colonies. This made the Colonies resent the British for taxing them without letting them have a say in the process. -
Declaratory Act
It was a declaration by the British Parliament accompanying the abolition of the Stamp Act. It stated that the taxing authority of the British Parliament in America was the same as in Great Britain. This appeased the colonies slightly. -
Townshend act
It was a declaration by the British Parliament accompanying the abolition of the Stamp Act It said the British Parliament's taxing power in America was the same as it was in Great Britain. This further angered the colonials. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shot and murdered a number of individuals while a mob in Boston was harassing them. This really tipped over the scales for the British and made it worse for them. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act gave the British East India Company the right to send tea to the colonies without paying most of the usual taxes on tea. The tea produced from the East India Company became cheaper than any other tea in the colonies, providing a very favourable benefit to the British business over colonial merchants. This lead to the Boston tea party. -
Intolerable Act/Coercive Act
These acts limited the privileges of the colonists, including the right of jury trial. The Intolerable Acts also permitted British soldiers to search colonists ' homes and even move into them. this made thing even more unsteady for the colonists -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists dressed as Native American's dumped 342 British tea chests into Boston Harbor. The settlers did this to protest against additional tea taxes. Parliament enacted the Coercive Acts in response to this protest. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress gathered because more rights were being demanded by Americans. They gathered to try to demand rights and freedoms from Britain. They eventually began to try to alienate themselves from Britain. -
The battle of Lexington and Concord
The Lexington and Concord Battles were the American Revolutionary War's first military engagements. That battle began the war. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from America's Thirteen Colonies uniting in the American Revolutionary War. That helped the colonies free themselves from Britain. -
Common sense
During the decisions in America on whether or not to split from England, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet to convince colonists to leave. It had a widespread effect and convinced all the people who were on the fence on whether or not to leave -
Declaration of Independence
The 13 American colonies severed their political links with Great Britain by issuing the Declaration of Independence. This finalized the transition between being a British colony to being their own Nation.
