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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta (Latin: "the Great Charter"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Latin: "the Great Charter of the Liberties"), is a charter agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. -
Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus, financed by Spain, makes the first of four voyages to the New World. He lands in the Bahamas -
Jamestown is established
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing -
English Bill of Rights
English Bill of Rights (1689) The English Bill of Rights is an English precursor of the Constitution, along with the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right. The English Bill of Rights limited the power of the English sovereign, and was written as an act of Parliament. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. On July 10, 1754, representatives from seven of the British North American colonies adopted the plan -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party definition. An act of defiance toward the British government by American colonists; it took place in 1773, before the Revolutionary War. The government in London had given a British company the right to sell tea directly to the colonies, thereby undercutting American merchants -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met on September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. -
Second Contienetal Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Independence definition. The fundamental document establishing the United States as a nation, adopted on July 4, 1776. The declaration was ordered and approved by the Continental Congress and written largely by Thomas Jefferson. -
Articles of Confederation
The first constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781. The Articles established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state legislature. -
Shays' Rebellion
Shays ' Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in Massachusetts (mostly in and around Springfield) during 1786 and 1787, which some historians believe "fundamentally altered the course of United States' history." -
Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan (also known as the Randolph Plan, after its sponsor, or the Large-State Plan) was a proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. -
Philadelphia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention, now often referred to as the Constitutional Convention, was a meeting held in 1787 by delegates from the 13 states that then comprised the United States. At first, the purpose of the convention was to address the problems the federal government was having ruling the states and staying fiscally sound under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation, which had been the prevailing code for the government since 1777. -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan (also widely known as the Small State Plan or the Paterson Plan) was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787. -
George Washington named first President of US
George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors -
John Adams
John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia -
U.S. Capital moved
The U. S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. -
Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase January 18. Jefferson asks Congress for funds for an expedition to explore the Mississippi River and beyond in search of a route to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary, begins planning the expedition, which forms late in 1803.
