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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
A charter of liberties presented by English barons which King John was forced to sign. -
Jamestown Settled
first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America, -
Mayflower Compact written
An agreement by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620,before they landed at Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower Compact bound them to live in a civil society according to their own laws -
Petition of Right
major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing -
English Bill of Rights
passed by the Parliament of Great Britain that declared the rights and liberties of the people and settling the succession in William III and Mary II following the Glorious Revolution. -
Stamp Act
Act of the British Parliament that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. -
Albany Plan of Union
plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin, -
Boston Massacre
killing of five colonists by British regulars. It was tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, which resulted in majority of Boston tea being tax dumped into the harbor -
Intolerable Acts
American Patriots' term for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. -
First Continental Congress
meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. -
Second Continental Congress
convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that, soon after warfare, declared the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
American Revolution.
the battle of Lexington occurred -
Declaration of Independence
statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which announced that the thirteen American colonies were free of British Ties -
Articles of confederation
the original constitution of the US, ratified in 1781, which was replaced by the US Constitution in 1789. -
Shay's Rebellion
uprising led by a former militia officer, Daniel Shays, which broke out in western Massachusetts.Shays's followers protested the foreclosures of farms for debt and briefly succeeded in shutting down the court system. -
Constitutional Convention
Annapolis Convention, delegates from five states called in order to discuss possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation. -
Philadelphia Convention
Was started to address problems in governing the the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Connecticut Compromise
an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States.