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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. King John was forced intor signing the document to greatly reduce the power he held as the King of England and allowed for the formation of a powerful parliament. The Magna Carta became the basis for English citizens rights. -
Jamestown Settled
It was the permanent English settlement in the New World. It was significant because it showed England that a colony could be sustained in the New World. -
Mayflower Compact
First written document in american history that stated the majority opinion would rule. It established a democratic government in which all freemen were able to vote. It was also a step towards self-government. -
Petition of Right
Passed by the Parliament of England in 1628, was a list of demands, targeted at King Charles 1. It was a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is significant because without it, the constitution would probably not have been ratified. Opposition to the constitution was strong throughout the colonies for fear of granting too much power to the national government. The Bill of Rights pacified many of those fears. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan written by Benjamin Franklin for all 13 colonies to unite and fight as one power to win the French and Indian War. It did not pass, however, because colonial legislators did not want to give up control of their own affairs. -
Stamp Act
Passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. The virginia house of Burgesses adopted Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolves, which declared that American possessed the same rights as the English, especially the right to be taxed by their own -
Boston Massacre
The Boston massacre played a significant role in the outcome of the Revolutionary War. After the Massacre, people realized the British were not there to help, but to destroy their liberty. -
Boston Tea Party
It was a direct action by colonists in boston against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after 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 the Boston Harbor. It was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. -
Intolerable Acts
The British parliament responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing four laws. The colonies called these laws the intolerable acts. It was significant because it united the colonies against Britain. -
First Continental Congress
Brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia, to discuss their response to the British “Intolerable Acts.” The members agreed to boycott British goods and passed resolutions asserting colonial rights. -
American Revolution Begins
The significance of the American Revolution is the birth of American Independence. -
Second Continental Congress
The members of the Second Continental Congress met at the state house in Philadelphia. There were several new delegates including: John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. The second continental congress established to militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army -
Declaration Of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continenetal Congress on July 4th, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American Colonies then at war with Great Britatin were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire -
Articles of Confederation
After Indepence from Great Britain was declared the United Colonies needed to form a new Confederation to govern and conduct the war agains England. The Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation. It was the first contitution of the United States. It was important because it made the union of the thirteen colonies legal and identified them as sovereign states. -
Shay's Rebellion
A series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by revolutionary war Caption Daniel Shays to black foreclosure proceedings. -
Philidelphia Convention
Adressed problems in governing the United States which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation. -
Constitutional Convention
Intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one. -
Connecticut Compromise
1787 : an agreement between large and small states reached during the constitutional convention of 1787 that in part difined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the united states constitutional
