-
Mayflower Compact
The Pilgrims who wanted to settle in Virginia abroad Mayflower with other passengers. Due to the weather, the Pilgrims decided to change the destination to the Plymouth which caused conflicts with other passengers. At last, they signed an agreement to cooperate with each other to avoid chaos, such as being loyal to King James, do good things for colonies and had faith in Christianity. This was the first time that the settlers promoted democracy and self-government. -
Sugar Act
This new law replaced the Molasses Act of 1733 by the Parliament of Great Britain. Although the British colonists reduced the taxes toward sugar, they included more products which contain sugar to be taxed. This led to the beginning of other Acts which would be introduced later. Since farmers needed to pay more money to sell their own products, people were angry toward the British Parliament which made people want to have their own government. -
Stamp Act
Because of the debt from the Seven Years' War, the Parliament from Great Britain established the Stamp Act in order to raise money to pay off their debt. The Stamp Act restricted people to pay taxes toward their documents, papers, and even playing cards. Americans felt that British was treating them unfairly, and they started to rebel and demanded their own system to rule America. -
Townshend Act
The British colonists became more greedy and demanded the money more from the Americans, so they set this series of laws. They raised the taxes from tea, paint, lead, paper, and glass to elevate the salaries of colonial judges from Great Britain. Since these set of immoral laws were setting without choosing representatives from the Americans, Americans felt angry and have more desire to create their own government. -
Boston Tea Party
Since British oppressed the colonists to pay more taxes by establishing more ridiculous laws, Americans decided to rebel against the Parliament of Great Britain. They threw 342 boxes of English tea into the sea to show out their anger. That was the first time Americans' defiance toward British which led to the further Revolutionary War and independence. -
1st Continental Congress
In response to the Intolerable Acts, the colonies except for Georgia gathered and establish the 1st Continental Congress. They wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances to claim the fair and equal rights with the Britsih. However, they did not want independence at that time. They still considered themselves as part of England. -
Intolerable Act
Due to the rebellions of the colonists, the Britain Congress presented the Intolerable Act. The colonists needed to pay for the tea which they dumped in the harbor, and they needed to provide shelter for British soldiers. Furthermore, the government should be appointed by Great Britain and the trials which were opposed to the government should be moved to Great Britain. These behaviors raised patriots in America and raised the hatred toward the British. -
2nd Continental Congress
The oppression of the British toward the colonists was too harmful that Americans decided to start a war between Great Britain and themselves. After the battle of Lexington and Concord, thirteen colonies represented as the 2nd Continental Congress. They created the Continental Army and fought with British soldiers. That was the first time they desired independence. -
Declaration of Independence
During the Revolutionary War in 1775, the movement of independence started to grow. This became an issue which people wanted to choose their own government. Since the Continental Congress needed to confront this, five men were in charge of writing the colonists' statement which became the Declaration of Independence. This is the first time that Americans have the choice to decide their own leader, and this leads to the Constitution which changes the Ameican history. -
Articles of Confederation
This article was first introduced in 1777 by the 2nd Constitution Congress. However, it was ratified since 1781 that 13 colonies gathered and decided to form the United State. Even though the colonies had the power to form allies and created an army, it was had some issues of taxes and trade. This major article established the basis of the further Constitution. Although this did not really work, it still created a state by these 13 colonies. -
Treaty of Paris
After the battle in Yorktown of the Revolutionary War, the British decided to have a peaceful negotiation with Americans since the American troops captured one of the captains of the British army. Therefore, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay went to Europe and have a conversation with King George III and signed the Treaty of Paris. This treaty showed out that the British respected with Americans. That was the first time the British admitted America is an independent state. -
Meeting in Annapolis
This was the first convention which states wanted to solve the issue of trading. Its purpose was to withdraw the trade barrier which every state had theirs independently. Even though each state got an invitation, only five states showed in the meeting. However, the representatives did not give up and rearranged a new meeting which was called the Constitutional Convention in the future. Although this meeting failed, it was the major step for accomplishing Constitution. -
Great Compromise
During the Constitutional Convention, the first problem that raised was the numbers of representatives from each state which small states opposed to big states opinion. Eventually, George Washington gave a fair resolution that there would be two kinds of representatives, one would be based on population, the other one would be based on the state. Another issue was about slaves which north and south states had different perspectives. At last, they decided to count slave as 3/5 of a person. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention is also called as Philadelphia Convention which was held in Philadelphia. After the Annapolis Convention, all the states gathered to rewrite the Articles of Confederation, since there were lots of issues and problems. In this meeting, lots of problems raised and got the solution. Each representative started to find out it was the time that America should be together in order to protect themselves. This led these states to combine and cooperate to reach independence. -
Ratification
After the Convention, there should be at least 9 states to sign the Constitution. On December 7th, 5 states signed the Constitution. Later, the other 2 states also signed. However, Massachusetts claimed that there was no Bill of Rights inside the Constitution. They reached the compromise that the Bill of Rights needed to add in immediately which Massachusetts agreed on the Constitution narrowly. Eventually, New Hampshire became the 9th states to sign. The United State finally established.
