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First Continental Congress
The first meeting of 12 of the 13 colonies to adress the issue of British power in the colonies. After debating for weeks they came up with the idea of a congress and to meet again to discuss the issue. -
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From Continental Congress to Constitution
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Second Continental Congress
They met after the Boston Massacre. The Empirial Army were arresting and killing patriot leaders, so the congress discussed if they were going to take arms against them or not. They created the Continental Army with the money they started printing on their own. In July they approved the Olive Branch Petition. -
Publication of Common Sense
Written by Thomas Paine, Common Sense was written strongly supporting Americas independance from the king. It was important because it was one of the first writings speaking against Great Britain. Selling 500,000 copies of his pamphlet, he was a snow ball effect to rising against Great Britain. -
Signing of the Declaration fo Independence
The signing of the Declaration of Independence was important because this was the document that the colonies sent to the king explaining to the king their right to seperate and about their independence. It impacted America becuase this was our first step to independence. -
Articles of Confederation
This document was basically the "rough draft" of the constitution. While fighting with Great Britain the Second Continental Congress settled on a final version in 1777 but was revised many times until finally agreeing on the final Articles in 1781. This set up a stronger union and sometime of government to defeat Great Britain. -
Treaty of Paris
This was the document that ended the war between the king and the colonies. The American negotiators signed the treaty on November 30, 1782 but the Treaty of Paris was formally not signed until the following year. This gave the colonies the freedom they worked hard to earn. -
Shays Rebellion
Named after a series of protests against the government on about taxing and how the government handled punishments for debts. Shay's rebellion was important because it brought to attention that a better document was needed to replace the Articles of Confederation, even though it never trully threatened the government of the United States. It ended in 1787. -
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers contained 85 individual letters explaining why the American government was the best government for the people. This created propganda that worked for the democratic system. Though it didn't have much influence on the public opinion on the government, it has been passed down and respected by many. -
Constitutional Convention
Meeting between May and September of 1787, the new government met to settle issues with their first copy of the Constitution dealing with foreign policies as well as taxes. Out of these discussions came what we know as the Constitution as well as our 3 branches of government; executive, judicial and legislative. -
Ratification of the Constitution
After debating for months and trying to win over the majority of the votes, the decision to ratify the Constitution was unanimous when voted 30-0. It was also decided in order for this government to function they needed a bill of rights. -
Bill of Rights
The 10 ammendments of the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. These state the individual rights and limits the governments power to be just to the people of the United States.
