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Jun 9, 1215
Magna Carta
A charter estaablishing the rights of English barons and free citizens, granted by King John at Runnymede. Regarded as the basis of civil and political liberty in England. -
Jamestown Settled.
On May 13, 1607, the colonists chose the site of Jamestown Island to build a three-sided fort erected on the banks of the James River. -
Mayflower Compact
The first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. Was written by the colonists (Pilgrims) who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. It was signed on November 11, 1620 by 41 of the ship's passengers. -
Petition of Right
A major English constitutional document that sets our specific liberties of the subject that the King is prohibited from infinging. Was produced by the English Parliament in the run-up to the English Civil War. -
English Bill of Rights
An act of the Parliament of England, whose title is An act declaring the rights and liberties of the subjeect and settling the succession of the crown. -
Albany Plan of Union
Proposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany congress in Albany, New York. It was an early attempt of the forming a unionof the colonies under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes. -
Stamp Act
A direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London. -
Boston Massacre
An incident that lead to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of british troops, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some British American Colonies, culminated in the American Revolutionary War. -
American Revolution begins
1772: Samuel Adams creates first committee of correspondence.
1774: First continential congress convenes in Philadelphia. Boycott begins
1775: American forces win Battle of Lexington and Concord, second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and extends Olive Branch Petition. King George III declares colonies in state of rebellion. -
Boston Tea Party
On December 16, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of texed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into the Boston Harbor. -
First Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from 12 to 13 North American colonies that met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to thepassageof the Coercive Acts by the British. -
Intolerable Acts
A series of five laws passed by the British Parliament in1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America. The acts triggered outrage and resistance in the 13 colonies, and were important developments in the growth of the American Revolution. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from the 13 colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
Declaration of Independence
A statement adopted by the Continential Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states. -
Articles of Confederation
Was the first constitution of the United States of America and specified how the national government was to operate. -
Philadelphia Convention
Took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement between large and small states reached during the constitutional convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and represenation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. -
Shay's Rebellion
An armed uprising in Central and Western Massachusetts from 1786-1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays', a veteran of the American revolution who led the rebels. -
Constitutional Convention
For four months, 55 delegates from the several states met to frame a constitution for a federal republic that would last into "remote futurity".
