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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by his subjects, the fuedal barons, in an attempt to limit the powers by law and protect their privileges. The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world. The Magna Carta was important in the colonization of America as England's legal system was used as a model for many colonies as they were developing their own legal systems. -
Jamestown settlement
Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America. Named for King James I of England, Jamestown was founded in the Colony of Virginia on May 13, 1607. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists fleeing from religious persecution by the King of England. They traveled aboard the Mayflower in 1620 along with adventurers, tradesmen, and servants. -
Petition of Right
Parliamentary declaration of the rights and liberties of the people, assented to by Charles I in the beginning of his reign (1628), and considered a constitutional document second in importance only to Magna Charta. -
English Bill of Rights
It lays down limits on the powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech in Parliament, the requirement for regular elections to Parliament and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. It reestablished the liberty of Protestants to have arms for their defence within the rule of law. -
Albany Plan of Union
In June 1754 delegates from most of the northern colonies and representatives from the Six Iroquois Nations met in Albany, New York. There they adopted a "plan of union" drafted by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. Under this plan each colonial legislature would elect delegates to an American continental assembly presided over by a royal governor. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was imposed as a direct tax by British Parliament on the colonies of America, and it required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and other types of paper used throughout the colonies. The stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in America. -
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
The Boston Tea Party (initially referred to by John Adams as simply "the Destruction of the Tea in Boston") 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 Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonis -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was the name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party. The acts stripped Massachusetts of self-government and historic rights, triggering outrage and resistance in the thirteen colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. -
First Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Brita -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political revolt against the British. In this action, they colonies hoped to separate and become the United States of America. By 1776 each colony had established a governmental institution to govern itself, but still recognized the British Crown and their inclusion in the empire. The British responded by sending combat troops to re-establish control. This later resulted in the Revolutionary War. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the thirteen colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774, also in Philadelphia. -
Declaration Of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation—the United States of America. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. -
Shay's Rebellion
This was the first major armed rebellion in the post-Revolutionary United States. Once again, Americans resisted high taxes and unresponsive government that was far away. But this time it was Massachusetts's settlers who were angry with a republican government in Boston, rather than with the British government across the Atlantic. -
Philadelphia Convention
The Constitutional Convention (also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia to address problems on how to govern the nation, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation since establishing. The intention was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention. The result of the Convention was the creation of the Constitution. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was 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 Constitution. It proposed proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house. These houses are now called the Senate and House of Representatives.