-
Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world. The Magna Carta was important in the colonization of America, because England's legal system was used as a model for many of the colonies as they were developing their own legal systems -
Jamestown settled
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic. The first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists fleeing from religious persecution by King James of Great Britain. They traveled aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers while the Mayflower was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod. -
Petition of Right
The Petition of Right sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. The petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restricts the use of martial law. Parliament refused to grant subsidies to support the war effort, leading to Charles gathering "forced loans" without Parliamentary approval and arbitrarily imprisoning those who refused to pay. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights was a restatement of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament inviting William and Mary to become joint sovereigns of England. It lays down limits on the powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliament and rules for freedom of speech in Parliament, the requirement for regular elections to Parliament and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a proposal to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin, at the Albany Congress in Albany, New York. More than twenty representatives of several northern and mid Atlantic colonies had gathered to plan their defense related to the French and Indian War, the front in North America of the Seven Years War between Great Britain and France. The plan was an early attempt to form a union of the colonies "under one government" -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act forced a direct tax by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America, and it required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, with an embossed revenue stamp.This included legal documents, magazines, newspapers and other types of paper used throughout the colonies. The stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.It's purpose was to help pay for troops in North America. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an event in which a squad of British soldiers were being abused by American colonists. The soldiers ending up firing at the colonists and killing 5 of them. British troops had been stationed in Boston to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported 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 deand destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was the name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea party. The acts stripped Massachusetts of self-government and historic rights, causing outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies (without Georgia) that met at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament. The acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. The Congress was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies. -
Second Continental Congress
The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the national government of what became the United States. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that became The United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to write the orignial document which congress would edit to produce the final version. -
American Revolution Begins
The American Revolution was a political upheaval in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break 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, and then expelled all royal officials. By 1775 each colony had established a an equivalent governmental institution to govern itself, but still recognized the British crown -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. Its drafting by the Continental Congress began in mid-1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification in late 1777. The formal ratification by all 13 states was completed in early 1781. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion was started due to: financial difficulties brought about by a post-war economic depression, a credit squeeze caused by a lack of hard currency, and harsh government policies instituted in 1785 to solve the state's debt problems. Protesters shut down county courts in the later months to stop the judicial hearings for tax and debt collection. The protesters became imprisoned and some were killed. -
Philadelphia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention was held to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. It's purpose was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention. The result of the Convention was the creation of the United States Constitution. The convention lasted nearly 4 months. -
Constitution Convention
The Convention was held to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention. The result of the Convention was the creation of the United States Constitution. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house.
