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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
A document that the King of England was forced to sign. It was something that would reduce his power as a monarch and a step towards a constitution. It is considered the reason why England ended up with a constitution. -
Petition of Right
Document that sets out certain liberites that king of England could not take away. It was produced after the English Civil War buy English Parliament. -
English Bill of Rights drafted
The English Bill of Rights laid out certain regulations. For example, it tallked about freedom of speech, set elections for Parliament, right to petition monarch without retribution, and many other things. -
Stamp Act
Passed by Parliament to tax American colonist on every form of printed paper used. Although the tax was not so much, the American colonist thought that if they let it pass without saying anything, that much worse taxations would occur in the future. -
Townshend Duties
Series of four acts passed by British Parliament in what it said it was England's historic right to rule over colonies. The Townshend Duties were meant to give money to British treasury. -
Boston Massacre
It was not something unknown that the presence of the redcoats was not welcome in Boston. The Boston Massacre was what happened when 50 patriots threw sticks, snowballs, and other things at the redcoats. Captain Thomas Preston, a British officer, called in more troops when that happened and the troops were met by a resistance. the Captain then ordered the soldiers to open fire on the crowd killing three men on the spot and wounding eight others. This was a leading event to the Revolution. -
Tea Act
Final spark to the Revolution in Boston. Led to the Boston Tea Party. It was not meant to undermine American tea, but meant ot save a floundering India Company Tea. -
1st Continental Congress
Check it. The first continental congress went on from September 5, 1774 until October 26, 1774. There were representatives there from every state except Georgia. There were some statees there that wanted reconciliation with the King of England. There were several things discussed, and the first was proposed by Joseph Galloway. His proposition was A PLan of Union of Great Britain and the Colonies. Although it seemed a good idea, it was later discarded. -
2nd Continental Congress
The second continental congress occured after the battles at Lexington and Concord. Benjamin Franklin wanted to separate from Britain, but many opposed him. Later, on May 15, 1776, the colonies went into a defensive state prepared to break allegiance with Britain. on 14 June 1776, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army. It was also here that the Declaration of Independance was signed. -
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
It was a book written to argue about American Independance. he starts to talk about the roles of society and governement. He goes on to talk about how wrong the British form of government is. He talks about monarchy and the succession of the crown. He says how even though the British crown helped America flourish, that loyalty had become undeserving when attacks happened. Paine argued that separation from the crown would come eventually, so to end it once and for all. -
Declaration of Independence
Declared independance from Britain. It was mostly written by Thomas Jefferson, but he was backed by four people: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Livingston. In the writing, it stated all the wrongs, reasons for departure, that the crown had imposed on the colonies.