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glorious revolution
involved the overthrow of king James the second, and was replaced by his daughter, Mary. -
second contenential congress
meeting of delegates from across the thirteen colonies and served till 1781 -
American revolution
somewhat inspired by the previous glorious revolution, the people of the American colonies rebelled against British rule. -
articles of confederation
an agreement among the 13 colonies that served as the frame of the type of government. -
end of the revolutionary war
the treaty of Paris is signed -
continental congress
the first government established by the people of the 13 colonies that is not influenced by British rule. -
1787 drafting
On the appointed day, May 14, 1787, only the Virginia and Pennsylvania delegations were present, and so the convention's opening meeting was postponed for lack of a quorum. A quorum of seven states met and deliberations began on May 25. Eventually twelve states were represented; 74 delegates were named, 55 attended and 39 signed. -
the great compromise
a stalemate between patriots and nationalists ended leading to numerous other compromises in a spirit of accommodation -
drafting continues
The Convention devolved into a Committee of the Whole to consider the Virginia Plan. On June 13, the Virginia resolutions in amended form were reported out of committee. The New Jersey Plan was put forward in response to the Virginia Plan -
committee of 11 states
A "Committee of Eleven one delegate from each state represented met from July 2 to July 16, to work out a compromise on the issue of representation in the federal legislature. All agreed to a republican form of government grounded in representing the people in the states. For the legislature, two issues were to be decided: how the votes were to be allocated among the states in the Congress, and how the representatives should be elected -
committee of detail elected
a committee of detail was elected to draft a detailed constitution reflective of the Resolutions passed by the convention up to that point. -
committee of style and arrangement
the report of the committee of detail was discussed, section by section and clause by clause. Details were attended to, and further compromises were effected, near the end of these discussions, a Committee of Style and Arrangement was appointed to make a final draft -
1788 ratification starts
The new frame of government that the Philadelphia Convention presented was a nominally a revision but was actually a wholesale replacement for the Articles of Confederation, leaving not a word of the original. After several days of debate, Congress voted to transmit the document to the thirteen states for ratification according to the process outlined in its Article VII. -
constitution gets put in officially
Towards the end of July, and with eleven states then having ratified, the process of organizing the new government began. The Continental Congress, which still functioned at irregular intervals, passed a resolution on September 13, 1788, to put the new Constitution into operation with the eleven states that had then ratified it. -
constitution gets ratified
the constitution had been ratified by the minimum of nine states required under Article VII. -
federal government begins operations
The federal government began operations under the new form of government. However, the initial meeting of each chamber of Congress had to be adjourned due to lack of a quorum. -
George Washington is elected
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the final 2 states fall into the constitution
The final two states both ratified the Constitution subsequently: North Carolina on November 21, 1789, and Rhode Island on May 29, 1790. -
the final document
at the convention's final session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result, a makeshift series of unfortunate compromises. Some delegates left before the ceremony and three others refused to sign.
