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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
In 1215, King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta stating that the king was not above the law of the land and protecting the rights of the people. Today, the Magna Carta is considered one of the most important documents in the history of democracy. -
Jamestown Settled
The Virginia Company of England set out on a daring expedition with the funding of investors in England. Their goal once they settled was to find gold to bring back to England. They spent all of their time looking for gold and not making food. This quickly became a problem in the Winter as the population in the dropped from 114 to 34. Jamestown was the first permanent British settlement in North America. -
Mayflower Compact Written
The Mayflower Compact was the first written document providing for self-government in what would later become the United States of America. It started us, as a people, on our path toward establishing a democratic republic, and it served as a foundation for our Constitution. -
Petition of Rights
The Petition of Right of 1628 was an English document that helped promote the civil rights of the subjects of King Charles I. The document ultimately provided common folk with a voice in government. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an act that the Parliament of England passed on December 16, 1689. The Bill creates separation of powers, limits the powers of the king and queen, enhances the democratic election and bolsters freedom of speech. Ended up being a model for the United states Bill of Rights -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader and a delegate from Pennsylvania, at the Albany Congress on July 10, 1754 in Albany, New York. -
Stamp Act
On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. The act ultimately led to the unanimous anger within the colonies towards their British leadership. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 when British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men who were harassing them. The massacre built up the already harsh feeling towards British leadership in the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. The protest ultimately showcased the shared feeling of the colonists towards the British. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
First Continental Congress
On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies except for Georgia met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts. (The Intolerable acts) -
American Revolution Begins
In April 1775 British soldiers and minutemen exchanged gunfire at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Described as "the shot heard round the world," it signaled the start of the American Revolution and led to the creation of a new nation. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America which united in the American Revolutionary War. -
Declaration of Independence
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies cut off their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists' motivations for seeking independence. -
Shay's rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades; the fight took place mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. -
Philadelphia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The point of the event was decide how America was going to be governed. Although the Convention had been officially called to revise the existing Articles of Confederation, many delegates had much bigger plans. The result of the convention was the creation of the Constitution. -
Connecticut compromise
The compromise proposed by Sherman and Ellsworth provided for a dual system of representation. In the House of Representatives each state's number of seats would be in proportion to population. In the Senate, all states would have the same number of seats.
