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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
This is a document accepted by King John of England in the year 1215 which contains a series of laws establishing the rights of English barons and major landowners thereby limiting the authority of the King. -
Jamestown
In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys began a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River. They were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose stockholders hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. -
Mayflower Compact written
The Mayflower Compact is a written agreement composed by a consensus of the new Settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. -
Petition of Right
Petition of right 1628- It is important because it gives us the right to submit a paper petition as well as the right to complain to a government official about policy and try to have it changed. Things like the Civil Rights movement and Suffrage both relied on this freedom. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights, 1689, in British history, one of the fundamental instruments of constitutional law. It registered in statutory form the outcome of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kings and the English Parliament. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was proposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress in 1754 in Albany, New York. It was an early attempt at forming a union of the colonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes during the French and Indian War. -
Stamp Act
On March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament without debate and was to become effective November 1 of that year. -
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 took place on December 16, 1773, when colonists threw tea into the Boston Harbor. They did this because they didn't like the British tea taxes. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were laws that were really punishments that King George III put on the colonies. He did this to the Colonists because he wanted to punish them for dumping tea into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall on September 5, 1774. Twelve of the 13 colonies sent delegates. -
American Revolution begins
The American Revolution started because of the following the reasons: Boston Massacre, Boycotting, The Boston Tea Party, -
Second Continental Congress
In May 1775, with Redcoats once again storming Boston, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. -
Declaration of Independence
To pronounce our independence from Great Britain. -
Articles Of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays's Rebellion, 1786–87, armed insurrection by farmers in W Massachusetts against the state government. Debt-ridden farmers, struck by the economic depression that followed the American Revolution, petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their own imprisonment for debt as a result of high land taxes. -
Constitution Convection
Two plans were put forth during the Constitutional Convention to create the new branches of government. The Virginia Plan wanted a strong national government with three branches. -
Connecticut Compromise
In the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 this compromise was put forward to end the conflict between the big states and the small states, It provided for the bicameral legislative branch that we have today, giving the states equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives. -
Philadelphia Convention
On May 25, 1787, a week later than scheduled, delegates from the various states met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Among the first orders of business was electing George Washington president of the Convention and establishing the rules--including complete secrecy concerning its deliberations--that would guide the proceedings.
