-
Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. The United States Constitution was based of the Magna Carta. -
Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. The colonists chose Jamestown Island for their settlement largely because the Virginia Company advised them to select a location that could be easily defended from ocean-going navies of the other European states that were also establishing New World colonies. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. Almost half of the colonists were part of a separatist group seeking the freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination and not the will of the English Church. -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. The Petition is most notable for its confirmation of the principles that taxes can be levied only by Parliament, that martial law may not be imposed in time of peace, and that prisoners must be able to challenge the legitimacy of their detentions through the writ of habeas corpus. The U.S. Constitution reflects this. -
English Bill of Rights
It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689, inviting them to become joint sovereigns of England. It lays down limits on the powers of sovereign and sets out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech in Parliament. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was proposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress. 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
The Stamp Act was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The Stamp Act met great resistance in the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an incident in which British redcoats killed five civilian men. British troops had been stationed in Boston since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. After officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were series of laws passed by the British Parliament relating to Britain's colonies in North America. The acts triggered outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies that later became the United States, and were important developments in the growth of the American Revolution. Many colonists viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of their rights, and in 1774 they organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheavel at the end of the 18th century, in which the thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. They first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without representation. The British responded by sending combat troops to re-impose direct rule. The Revolutionary War began. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after American Revolutionary War had begun. They adopted the Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britian, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. -
Articles of Confederation
The articles set the rules for operations of the United States government. It was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories. It was later replaced by the Constitution. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. It started over financial difficulties. There was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation. Shays' Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. -
Philadephia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia to address problems in governing the U.S. Although the Convention was purportedly intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement reached by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by James Madison, along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states.
