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Jan 1, 1215
Magna Carta Signed
Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the 1100 Charter of Liberties, when King Henry I had specified particular areas where his powers would be limited. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Iroquouis Confederation
When Europeans first arrived in North America, the Iroquois were based in what is now the northeastern United States, primarily in what is referred to today as upstate New York west of the Hudson River and through the Finger Lakes region. -
Common Law
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Mayflower Compact Signed
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower -
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New England Confederation Apporved
The confederation was weakened in 1654 after Massachusetts refused to join the war against the Netherlands during the First Anglo-Dutch War. However the confederation regained importance during King Philip's War in 1676. -
Thomas Hobbes-Levalation
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English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament in December 1689.It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. It enumerates certain rights to which subjects and permanent residents of a constitutional monarchy were thought to be entitled in the late 17th century, asserting subjects' right to petition the monarch, as well as to have arms in defence -
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John Locke-Two Treaties of Government
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Baron De Montesque- on the Spirit of Laes
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Adopted Albany Plan of Union
Albany Conference, was a meeting of representatives from seven of the thirteen British North American colonies in 1754 (specifically, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island). Representatives met daily at Albany, New York from June 19 to July 11 to discuss better relations with the Indian tribes and common defensive measures against the French -
Jean Jacque Rousseau- The Social Contracrt
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Colonial Legislatures
The American colonies existed independent of Great Britain in many ways. The colonial legislatures had a great deal of power including the ability to muster troops, levy taxes and pass laws. They became accustomed to these perogatives and were unwilling to relinquish these rights when Great Britain decided to return to the scene. -
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Sir John Blackstone- Commentarieson the Laws of England
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Second Continental Congress Meets
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun.
The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 -
Declaration of Independence Signed
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary -
First Continental Congress Meets
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution.
56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies, the exception being the Province of Georgia, which did not send delegates. -
Written constitutions
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Articles of Confederation
After Independence from Great Britain was declared on July 2, 1776 the United Colonies needed to form a new Confederation to govern and conduct the war against England. -
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Ratification of The Constitution
The years were 1787 and 1788. The places: "out-of-doors" in newspapers and pamphlets throughout America's thirteen states and "in-doors" in the state ratifying conventions -
Enlightenment
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Consitutional Convention Meets
By 1786, Americans recognized that the Articles of Confederation, the foundation document for the new United States adopted in 1777, had to be substantially modified. The Articles gave Congress virtually no power to regulate domestic affairs--no power to tax, no power to regulate commerce -
Bill of Rights
First United States Congress in 1789 as a series of legislative articles, and came into effect as Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791.
The Bill of Rights is a series of limitations on the power of the United States Federal government, protecting the natural rights of personal and intellectual liberty and of property and acting as a guarantee of essential rights and liberties. -
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Parliament Established
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England.
In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws -
Seperation Powers
The separation of powers, is a model for the governance of both democratic & federative states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that no one branch has more power than the other branches.
