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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The charter of English political and civil liberties granted by King John at Runnymede in June 1215. The Magna Carta marked a turning point in world history. -
Jamestown Settled
It was the first permanent English colony. It was founded 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachussets. -
Mayflower Compact written
The first Governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists. The Mayflower Compact was established because the people of the Mayflower wanted a government. -
Petition of Rights
This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights was enacted by the English Parliament and singed into law by King William III. It is one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law, and marks a important time in the progression of English society. It helped build the scoiety off a rule of a monarch, to a nation of free citizens with inalienable rights. -
Albany Plan of Union
The plan was adopted on July 10, 1754, by representatives from seven of the British North American colonies.Although it was never carried out, it was the first important plan that conceived that colonies as a whole united under one governement, -
Stamp Act
Imposed a direct tax by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. This required that many printed materials in the colonies were to be produced on stamped paper produced in London. This was another reason lead to the Revolution War. -
Boston Massacre
There were tensions between the American colonists and the British in early 1770 and when a British soldies got outraged from being hit with a snowball set fire. This resulted in 5 colonists to be killed. There was a tension between the British and Americans, becuase Britain government wanted to raise taxes and take control over the colonies. The Boston Massacre helped unite the colonies against Britain and help gain American Independence, -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party took place in 1773. This occurred becuase Massachusetts Patriots, were protesting the high cost of tax on tea being imported. They protested by taking 342 chests of tea and throwing them into the harbor. -
First Continental Congress
It was convention of delegates from twelve colonies, which Georgia was not present. This meeting was held on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence and it set important issues for the government instituted under the Constitution in 1789. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. It took away self-government in Massachusetts, as wells as historic rights. This made the Thirteen Colonies outraged. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. -
American Revolution Begins
The American Revolution begins because of the Boston Massacre, Boycotting, and The Boston Tea Party. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met, after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Second Continental Congress decided many important things. For example, they decided to completely break away from Great Britain. On May 15, 1776, they decided to officially put the colonies in a state of defense. -
Declaration of Independence
This document declared that the 13 colonies were seperate independant states. Before this they belonged to the control of the British. -
Articles of Confederation
A written agreement by the thirteen original states, ratified in 1781. This provided a legal symbol of their union by giving their central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens. -
Shay's Rebellion
It was an armed uprising that took place in central and western Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. There were many factors to this rebellion for example, financial difficulties brought about by a post-war economic depression, a credit squeeze caused by a lack of hard currency, and fiscally harsh government policies instituted in 1785 to solve the state's debt problems. -
Philadelphia Conventions
The convetion took place to state problems in governing the United States of America, which had been under the Articles of Confederation. This was after following the independence from Great Britain. The convention was intending on fixing the Article of Confederation, but ended in creating a new governement. The end result of this convention was the making of the Constitution. -
Constitution Convection
It was also known as the Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, It took place to discuss problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Connecticut Compromise
It was an agreement that large and small states reached, that in the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It also contained the bicameral legislature.
