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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta signed by King John
The Magna Carta was written by the barons of England after King John started to abuse the feudal system. It states that no freeman (later changed to "no man") shall be imprisoned or punished without due process of law, which is one of the important clauses in the Consitution. It promised fair laws that would help the people rather than only helping the king. This document was one of the first to not give complete power to the king, and was one of the predecessors to the Constitution. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was one to the first documents that discussed how the New World was to be governed. It was signed on the Mayflower, as the name suggests, when it pulled into harbor. The document was an attempt to create their own temporary government and to have the men onboard to agree to a certain set of rules. This document is similar to the Constitution in that it has guidelines for conduct and behavior. -
Sugar and Mollases Act
The Sugar and Molasses act of 1733 is one of the first acts that imposed unfair taxes on people in the colonies. This stirred up some unrest, and was one of the factors that led to the uprisings later on before the Revolutionary War. -
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French and Indian War
The French and Indian war was (obviously) a war between the French and the Native Americans living in the western area of what is now the USA. The French wanted this territory, but there were many native people living there who had been there for centuries, and they were not willing to give it up. -
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Albany Congress
The Albany Congress was a meeting of the colonial leaders to try and acheive two things- to get the help of the Iriquois leaders and to try and assemble the colonies into a confederation of sorts. This was one of the first movements to truly become one country that was running itself, rather than multiple colonies under British command. -
Proclamation of 1763
This proclamaion denied access to the recently "won" land that the French lost. After the French lost, colonists were excited to take the land that they believed they had a right to. However, the British government did not allow access to this land, saying that it was to " to calm the fears of the Indians, who felt that the colonists would drive them from their lands as they expanded westward." The British put up guards along the border, but made the colonists pay more taxes, fueling more unrest -
Sugar Act
Although the Sugar act was good in that it reduced taxes on Sugar, it also put taxes on items that had previously been untaxed, as well as increased enforcement on paying taxes. Many colonists were angry about this, as there had previously been loopholes for merchants to use to get around taxes. -
The Currency Act
This act worked against the Colonies in 2 ways, the first being that the colonists were now unable to print their own currency, and the making of colonial currency was now under the command of the British. The second part was that anybody accused of violating customs laws would get a hearing favorable to British interests. -
Stamp Act
This act raised taxes on almost everything that was involved in the printing process. This wasn't the part that offended the colonists however. They were offended by the fact that this act was put forth simply to raise money, not to regulate commerce. The colonies were now being viewed as a simple way to make money, and the colonists were not happy about it. -
Declaratory Act
This act declared that the colonies were still, and always wuold be, part of Great Britain. This was after many people started stating their dissent with this system, and that all laws and orders made by the Crown were more important than those made by colonial leaders. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occured when a squad of British soldiers open fired onto a croud of Patriots. 5 Americans died that day, but all of the British soldiers were acquitted. This helped round up support for the Patriots, as many people believed that the soldiers should have been punished in some way. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act of 1773 imposed new taxes on American teas and discounted British Tea coming from India. This undermined American sellers of tea, but the act was not succesful. Ports in New York and Philadelphia did not accept the British Tea, ports in Charleston left the tea to rot on the docks, and the Boston Tea Party effectivly wiped out all the tea that came to Boston. It was the final spark to the revolution that was brewing in Boston, and was one of the factors of the Revolutionary War. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a famous act of defiance against the British by American Patriots after the Tea Act was passed in 1773, Many men dressed up as Native Americans and threw tons of tea into Boston Harbor, effectivly ruining the tea and making the East India Company (a British Company) lose all of the profits that they would have gained by selling that tea. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts are a collection of different acts passed by the British government that limited the abilities of the colonists to trade and to govern themselves. Although many people disagree on exactly which acts were part of this group, the five most commonly put into this category are:
The Boston Port Act
The Massachusets Government Act
The Administration of Justice Act
The Quartering Act
The Quebec Act
These acts made many colonists angry, and were some of the causes of the revolts -
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act of 1774 was when the British government formally declared that the Province of Quebec was now part of their territory and demolished the temporary government that had been in place. As this area had had lots of French influence before this act, the people living there were not happy with this and wanted to be free of British control. -
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First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was when 56 delegates from the colonies had a meeting after the Intolerable Acts. They decided to send a letter to the King telling him that he was treating them unfairly and that they weren’t going to put up with him anymore. They also discussed plans of war against England at this time. -
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Revolutionary War
The Revolution occurred when the colonies and the British started to fight, and fought for many years. The British were fighting to keep control of the colonies while the colonists were fighting for their independence. Tension was at an all time high, and it was the most important war in US history. -
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Second Continental Congress
At the Second Continental Congress, the war had just begun and the patriots wanted to make their own government. They began drafting the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence, and kept making plans for the war that was going on. -
Olive Branch Petition
This petition was a final attempt to make peace before war broke out between the colonies and Great Britain. It affirmed their loyalty to the Crown and said that they would not try to rebel or split from the Crown. However, this was not even read by the King, and he declared war on the colonies about a month later. -
A Proclamation by the King
The Proclamation of Rebellion (officially titled A Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition) was a proclamation sent out by King George following the Battle of Bunker Hill. He declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion, and urged all his soldiers and officers to go there and to put down the rebellion. This was the very beginning of the Revolutionary War. -
Virginia Declaration of Rights
This document was drafted to state that all citizens of Virginia had certain inherent rights and the right to rebel against an inadequate government. It was adopted at the Fifth Virginia Convention, and had heavy influence on how Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and contains many of the same key ideas. -
The First Virginia Constitution
This document was written with the new laws and rights for the colonists living in Virginia. It stated that the King no longer had complete control of the colonies, and that control of the colony would now be under the control of a governer and Privy Council. -
The Declaration of Independence was issued
Commonly thought of "America's Birthday", the Patriots released their Declaration of Independence from England. After this, the colonists were no longer to be considered just colonists, they were Americans. There was lots of controversy with who would sign the Declaration, as if the USA lost the war, those who had signed it would be executed by the British for treason. This was a very important day, and is one of the key events leading to our independence. -
The Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were created because the people were worried they would have little or no power with a government far away, like their British rule. In response to these worries, leaders made the Articles of Confederation, that gave each state a decent amount of independence. The Congress could pass laws but could not make the citizens obey them.This made the country have a VERY weak Federal government but strong state governments. -
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Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation was the immediate replacement for the Second Continental Congress after the Articles of Confederation had been ratified. It worked as congress does today, and they helped make and pass laws through the house. It was succeeded by the Congress of the United States following the ratification of our current Constitution. -
Shay's' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was a rebellion started by Massachusetts' farmers due to the farmers losing their land because of debt. Armed mobs began closing in courts in western colonies, and soon Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays became the leader. The state officials got rid of the rebels in Springfield on January 25, 1787. -
Federalist Papers
The Federalist papers were a series of 85 essays and articles written by politicians such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay that supported the idea of a strong central Federal government that was not present in the Articles of Confederation. They wanted the Constitution to become the basis for our government, as the way the country was working wasn't actually working. There was nothing really connecting the states, only the idea of friendship and brotherhood. -
Constitution Ratified
After the USA had been through the war and had tried to have a strong government with the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution as we know it was ratified by New Hampshire. making it ratified by 9/13 states in the union and therefore the legal basis of our government.
