-
Sep 16, 1215
Magna Carta
King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta which limited his power from absoulte power. -
Virginia House of Burgessess
First legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America. It was created to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America and to make conditions in the colony more agreeable for its current inhabitants -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights sets limitations for what a leader can and cannot do. Apllied to American colonists and the people in England. -
French and Indian War
American colonists fought with the British in this war, which lasted from 1754 to 1763. The British won the war and won the right to keep Canada and several other possessions in the New World. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act imposed the first direct tax on the colonists. Required them to pay tax on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, dice, and playing cards. -
Boston Tea Party
ook place when a group of Massachusetts Patriots, protesting the monopoly on American tea importation recently granted by Parliament to the East India Company, seized 342 chests of tea in a midnight raid on three tea ships and threw them into the harbor. -
First Continental Congress
a convention of delegates from twelve colonies that met on September 5, 1774. It was called in response to the Boston Tea Party. -
Lexington and Concord
This was the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. British troops had moved from Boston toward Lexington and Concord to seize the colonists' military supplies and arrest revolutionaries. Paul Revere, on his famous ride, had first alerted the Americans to the British movement. -
Second Constitutional Congress
The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved towards independence, writing the "rough draft" of the United States Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence
the proclamation made by the second American Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which asserted the freedom and independence of the 13 Colonies from Great Britain. -
Articles of Confederation
The original constitution of the US, ratified in 1781, which was replaced by the US Constitution in 1789. -
Peace Treaty with Great Britian
The peace treaty with Great Britian ended the Revolutionary war. It also formalized Great Britians recognation of America being an independent country. -
Shay's Rebellion
Protests of American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. Although farmers took up arms in states from New Hampshire to South Carolina, the rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. -
3/5 Compromise
The 3/5 compromise was an agreement between the Northern and Southern states to count each slave as 3/5 of a person, or count only 3/5 of the population of slaves, for tax purposes. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that large and small states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. -
Constitutional Convention
the convention of United States statesmen who drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 -
Commerce/Slave Trade Compromise
An agreement during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 protecting the interests of slaveholders by forbidding Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any State, and, for 20 years, the power to act on the slave trade. -
New Jersy Plan
The plan was a request for equal representation of the states. The New Jersey Plan was also an opposition to the Virginia Plan, which requested representation based on the population of each state. -
Virginia Plan
written by James Madison, was a plan showing Madison's idea of what a legislature should be like. He wanted there to be two houses in the legislature, one consisting of officials elected by the citizens, who served three-year terms. The other house would consist of older house leaders elected by the state legislature, who would serve seven-year terms. Both houses would determine the division of seats in the House by the states population. -
Rhode Island Ratifies
Rhode Island became the 13th state to enter the Union after ratifying the Constitution. Rhode Island was the only state not to send a representative to the Constitutional Convention. -
The BIll of Rights
the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.
