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The Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first document signed to establish self government. It said that the Pilgrims would elect their own leaders and make their own laws to benifit all of the colonies.
nov 11 1620 -
The English BIll of RIghts
The English Bill of Rights put limits on the powers of the crown and set out requirements to seek the consent of the people. These ideas later helped create democracy. dec 16 1689 -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies, not including Georgia, where the representatives drew up a list of the colonies rights and demands and they sent these to King George III of Britain. -
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The American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War Began as a war between the thirteen colonies and the Kingdom of Great Britan for the purpose of gaining independence for the colonies. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political upheaval in which the thirteen colonies joined together to break from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the thirteen colonies who wrote the Olive Branch Petition which was a request for delegates to meet with King George III to work out compromises so that war could be avoided. This request was denied. -
The American Revolutionary War Begins
The American Revolutionary War Began as a war between the thirteen colonies and the Kingdom of Great Britan for the purpose of gaining independence for the colonies. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress, which announced that the thirteen colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
The Articles of Confederation
The thirteen colonies ratified the Articles of Confederation completely. (Not exact date, early 1781). -
The Last Battle of the Revolutionary War
The last battle of the Revolutionary War takes place; the 13 states set up a federal government under laws called the Articles of Confederation. -
British Trading Stops
Trading with the British stops and tarriffs are inforeced. Tarriffs are taxes on imports and exports. This was negative for the Colonies. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion - Daniel Shays leading 1,200 western Massachusetts farmers in an attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield. Although the rebellion was quickly dismissed, it convinced many American leaders that change was needed if the U.S. were to survive. -
Drafting the Constitution
To draft the Constitution, delegates from most of the states met at the Annapolis Convention in 1786. When nothing was resolved, they agreed to reconvene in 1787 at a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. -
Constitutional Convention
At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates reconvened and decided that an entirely new constitution was needed rather than just a revision to the Articles. -
Signing the American Consitution
Forty-two of the fifty-five delegates of the Constitutional Convention held their final meeting to sign the Constitution of the United States of America. -
Final draft of the Constitution sent to Congress
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Constitution Ratified
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New Hampshire Approves the Constitution
New Hampshire becomes the 9th and last state required to approve the constitution. -
The American Constitution
