-
Jan 1, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects known as the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights. It created the idea that the monarchy's power was not absolute. -
Jamestown settled
Jamestown was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607. The Virginia Company of London sent an expedition to establish a settlement in the Virginia Colony in December 1606. In April 1607, the expedition reached the southern edge of the mouth of what is now known as the Chesapeake Bay. After an unusually long journey of more than four months, the 104 men and boys (one passenger died during the journey) arrived at their chosen settlement spot in Virginia. -
Mayflower Compact Written
The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620 by most adult men. The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists, fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. They traveled aboard the Mayflower with adventurers, tradesmen, and servants, most of whom were referred to, by the Separatists as "Strangers". -
Petition of Right
Document that was prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England. It basically limited the king's power in many ways and challenged the idea of the divine right of kings. It declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land. -
English Bill of Rights
Document written by Parliament and agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs. It forms the basis for much in American government and politics today. -
Albany Plan of Union
Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes. The plan was turned down by the colonies and by the Crown. The plan proposed the creation of an annual congress of delegates from each of the 13 colonies. -
Stamp Act
Another new law that Parliament passed that required the use of tax stamps on all legal documents, on certain buisness agreements, and newspapers. -
Boston Massacre
The killing of five colonists by British regulars. It was the result 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
Political protest in which the demonstrators who were know as Sons of Liberty, disguised themselves as American Indians and boarded a ship that carried tea and destroyed the tea by throwing it into the Boston Harbor. this was due to a boycott of tea carrying a tax the Americans had not authorized. The British government responded harshly and it escalated into the American Revolution. -
Intolerable Acts
Laws passed by the British Parliament, in 1774 relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea party. It was meant to punish the colonists for all the money that was wasted when the tea was thrown in the harbor. -
First Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from twelve colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Georgia was not present. The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances. -
American Revolution Began
At about 5 a.m. on April 19th, 1775 over 700 British troops were ready to battle. The tensions between the American colonies and the British government approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from the 13 colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun.Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved forward towards independence. -
Declaration of Independence
A statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, at war with Great Britain, claimed themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation known as the United States of America. -
Articles of Confederation
Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution. It established a "firm league of friendship" among the states. It was finally approved on November 15th, 1777. -
Shay's Rebellion
Protesters, including many war veterans, shut down county courts in the later months of 1786 to stop the judicial hearings for tax and debt collection. The protesters became radicalized against the state government following the arrests of some of their leaders, and began to organize an armed force. -
Philadelphia Convention
Several framers met to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation. The Convention was intended to revise the Articles of Confederation,and create a new government rather than fix the existing one. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. -
Constitutional Convention
Convention that drew up the Constitution of the United States. Stimulated by severe economic troubles, which produced political movements such as Shays’s Rebellion, and urged on by a demand for a stronger central government, the convention met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia May 25, 1787 to September 17, 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation.
