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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carter Is Drafted
King John owned land in France and the French wanted it back. After waging war with John, the French succeeded for the most part. Having lost this war, John made life a little harder for his subjects, for example by demanding very high taxes and by allowing his deputies to treat the people arbitrarily. In January 1215, a group of English barons had had it. They demanded a guarantee for fair treatment from, and signed by, King John. To show that they meant business, the barons armed themselves. -
Petition of rights is drafted
Charles I's third Parliament in four years met on March 17th 1628, and immediately started discussing recent grievances against the way the King had been treating them.
The Commons leader Sir Edward Coke, a lawyer, came up with the Petition of Right...a statement of a person's fundamental rights which the King should agree to honour.
It made reference to the Magna Carta (see section III) and asserted that a person should have...
freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment -
Stamp act
The Stamp Act was 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. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountain. -
Townshend Duties
They could not use the same strong-arm tactics they had used against the stamp distributors against the British naval officers who collected the duties offshore. -
Boston Massacre
On the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and begins taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops, who were sent to Boston in 1768 to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act of 1773 was a British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on May 10, 1773, that was designed to bail out the British East India Company and expand the company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced price.
The Tea Act imposed no new taxes It gave a tea monopoly in the American colonies to the British East India Company The Tea Act allowed the East India company to sell its large tea surplus below the prices charged -
1st Continental Congress
First Continental Congress was called to order on September 5th, 1774. 55 colonial representatives, including famous Patriots like John Adams, Samuel Adams, George Washington, and Patrick Henry, from twelve colonies met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to formulate a plan of action. Georgia was the only colony that did not send representatives. Virginia’s representative, Peyton Randolph, was elected president of the First Continental Congress. It was decided that each colony would be allotted one -
2nd Continenal congress
In the Second Continental Congress, there was more of a consensus by the delegates that there needed to be a separation from England. However, by 1775, the actual fighting of the American Revolution was underway, and British and Colonial soldiers were battling for the control of the colonies. The Second Continental Congress came together as a convention of ideas and action. In the minds of the delegates it was necessary to formally separate from England. -
Common Sense (Thomas Payne)
He was a famous writer whose words greatly influenced the leaders of the American Revolution. Born in England, he became friends with Benjamin Franklin, who encouraged him to go to America. He wrote and published the pamphlet "Common Sense" which demanded complete independence from Great Britain. It also stated a strong case against the monarchy and inherited privilege. -
Declaration of Independence
It was written by Thomas Jefferson, although Jefferson wanted John Adams to write it. But Adams knew Jefferson, being a Virginian, would help sway the southern states
The Second Continental Congress appointed John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman to come up with a declaration of independence.