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Jul 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Great Charter forced upon King John of England in 1215 by his barons. It established that the power of the monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due process of law to the nobility. -
Petition of Right
Petition of Right The Petition of Right
Ratified 7 June 1628
Location Parliamentary Archives, London The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. The Petition of Right was produced by the English Parliament in the run-up to the English Civil War. -
English Bill of Rights
Document written by Parliament and agreen on by William and Mary of England in 1689. It was designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs. It also forms the basis for which in American government and politics today. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the culmination of civilian-military tensions that had been growing since royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768. (The killing of five men by British soldiers on March 5, 1770) -
Boston Tea Party
Officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. It was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government -
First Continental Congress
It was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. They were called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. -
Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states. The birthday of the United States- Independence Day. -
Articles of Confederation
Drafted by the Continental Congress, served as the first Constitution of the United States. It specified how the national government was to operate -
Virginia Plan
Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey delegates to the Constitutional Convention, led by William Paterson proposed an alternative to the Virginia Plan. The New Jersey Plan was designed to protect the security and power of the small states by limiting each state to one vote in Congress, as under the Articles of Confederation. Its acceptance would have doomed plans for a strong national government and minimally altered the Articles of Confederation.
