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Period: Jan 29, 1200 to
Chapter 2 Timeline
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Jan 29, 1215
Magna Carta
(The Great Charter) A group of barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. It included guarantees of such fundamental rights as trial by a jury and due processs of the law; protection against the arbitrary taking of life, liberty, or property. -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right was a statement of civil liberties sent by English Parliment to Charles I. It was a refusal by Parliment to finance the king's foreign policy. It was initiated by Sir Edward Coke and was based upon earlier statues, charters, and four principles; no taxes may be levied without consent of Parliment, no subject may be imprisoned without evidence, no soliders may be housed with the citizenary, and material law may not be used in a time of peace. -
English Bill of Rights
It lays down limits on the powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliment and rules for freedom of speech in Parliment. the requremnt to regular elections to Parliment and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. It reestablished the liberty of Parliment and condemed James II of England. -
Albany Plan of Union
The plan was a proposal to create a unified government for the 13 colonies, they were suggested by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader of 48, and a delegate from Pensulvania, at the Albany Congress in Albany, New York 1754. The plan represented an early attempt to form a union of the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
It was a pre-revolutionary incident thatgrew out of anger against British troops. The troops were constantly bothered by gangs, until finally on May 5, 1770, shots were fired into a rioting crowd and killed five men. The British captain, Thomas Preston, and his men were tried for murder. Preston and 6 of his men were acquitted; 2 others were found guilty of manslaughter. All were removed from the military. -
Boston Tea Party
This was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Cmpany that controlled all tea impolrted into the colonies. Boston refused to return 3 shiploads of taxed tea to Britian, a group of colonist boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into the Boston Harbor. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia, to dicuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts." The congress had 3 goals; to compose a statement of colonial rights, to identify British Parliment's violation of those rights, and provide a plan that would convince Britain to restore the rights. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was delegates from the 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia to discuss their next step. The congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the 13 states. Also, they elected George Washington as Commander and Chief of the Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence
A statement that was adopted by the Continental Congress, which anoounced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Shay's Rebellion
This was the first armed uprising of the new nation. It was caused by the absence of debt relief legislation in Massachussetts. When the Revolution ended, merchants and creditors lobbied for high taxes and against paper money; they were successful. These procreditor policies underminded farmers' finances. Thism caused the farmers' to go into extreme debt. -
Philadelphia Convention
Americans recognized that the Articles of Confederation, the foundation document for the new United States adopted in 1777, had to be substantially revised. The articles gave congress virtually no power to regulate domestic affairs-no power to tax/regulate commerce. -
Article of Confederation
This was an agreement amoung the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of soverign states and served as its first constitutiion. It's drafting by the Continental Congress began in mid-1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification in late-1777. The formal ratification by all 13 states was completed in 1781. -
Virginia Plan
The plan traced the broad outlines of what would become the U.S. Constitution; a national government consisting of 3 branches with checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power. In its amended form, this page of Madison's plan shows his ideas for a legislature. -
New Jersey Plan
This was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan, which called for 2 houses of Congress, both elected with apportionment according to population.
