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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta (Latin; "the Great Charter"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Latin; "the Great Charter of the Liberties of England"), was a charter issued by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, England, on 15 June 1215. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier. -
John Locke
The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism. Trained in medicine, he was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution. -
English Bill of Rights
One of the many points of contention between Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the Constitution’s lack of a bill of rights that would place specific limits on government power. Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. -
Baron de Montesquieu (On the Spirit of Laws, 1748)
The Spirit of Laws is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside of France was aided by its rapid translation into other languages. In 1750 Thomas Nugent published the first English translation -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was to find a way to protect everyone’s life, liberty, and property while each person remained free. Rousseau’s solution was for people to enter into a social contract. They would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to “the whole community,” all the people. He called all the people the “sovereign,” a term used by Hobbes to mainly refer to a king. The people then exercised their “general will” to make laws for the “public good.” Roussea -
Voltaire (Treatise on Tolerance, 1763)
In the Treatise on Tolerance Voltaire calls for tolerance between religions, and targets religious fanaticism (especially that of the Jesuits: as a child, Voltaire was a brilliant student educated by Jesuits) and has an indictment against superstitions surrounding religions. -
Cesare Beccaria (On Crime and Punishment,Cesare Beccaria (On Crime and Punishment, 1764)
The treatise "On Crimes and Punishments" was published in 1764, but since Beccaria feared a political backlash, he published it anonymously. Only after it was received and accepted by the government, did Beccaria have it published under his name. Many people had a hard time believing that this quiet, unknown man wrote the work, but once again his friends came to his rescue and affirmed that the essay was Beccaria’s own writings. -
First Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was the formal means by which the American colonial governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American Revolution. The Congress balanced the interests of the different colonies and also established itself as the official colonial liaison with Great Britain. As the war progressed, the Congress became the effective national government of the country, and, as such, conducted diplomacy on behalf of the new United States. -
Second Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was the formal means by which the American colonial governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American Revolution. The Congress balanced the interests of the different colonies and also established itself as the official colonial liaison with Great Britain. As the war progressed, the Congress became the effective national government of the country, and, as such, conducted diplomacy on behalf of the new United States. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists’ motivations for seeking their independence. By declaring themselves an independent nation, the American colonists were able to conclude an official alliance with the government of France and obtain French assistance in the war against Great Britain. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the Articles of Confederation,The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the duct. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on 3 September 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay’s Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. Although farmers took up arms in states from New Hampshire to South Carolina, the rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. The rebellion took its name from its symbolic leader, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, a former -
Philadelphia Convention (Constitutional Convention)
The Constitutional Convention 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. Although the Convention was intended to revise the Articles of Confederation. -
Ancient Rome
The American political system, like those of many other western notions, is profoundly influanced by ideas from Ancient Greece and Rome. Our ideas about democracy and republican government come from from these ancient government. -
Anticent Greece
The Greeks invented the idea of democracy. The Greek democracy based their government on rule by the people and though their elected officals. America's early learders modaled America's modern democracy on the antient greece .