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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was the first document imposed upon a King of England by a group of his subjects. It was an attempt to limit his powers. It is an important part of history that led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond. -
Jamestown Settled
America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia. It helped spark a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today. -
Mayflower Compact written
The first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists, sometimes referred to as the "Saints", fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. -
Petition of Right
Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from breaking. The Petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and the use of martial law. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights limited the power of the English sovereign, and was written as an act of Parliament. As part of what is called the “Glorious Revolution,” the King and Queen William and Mary of Orange accepted the English Bill of Rights as a condition of their rule. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. Although never carried out, it was the first important plan to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
Their goal was to protest British Parliament's unfair tax on tea. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor, ruining the tea. The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. -
First Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Britain. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was the American Patriots' name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. The acts took away Massachusetts self-government and historic rights, triggering outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved 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 de facto national government of what became the United States. -
American Revolution Begins
The Revolutionary War in the United States, was the rise of rebellion against Great Britain by the thirteen American colonies which founded the United States of America. The war had its origins in the resistance of many Americans to taxes imposed by the British parliament, which they held to be unlawful. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. -
Articles of Confederation
It was ratified March 1, 1781. It is a document signed amongst the 13 original colonies that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in central and western Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and one of the rebel leaders. The goal was to reform of a state government. This resulted in problems of Federal authority linked to the Articles of Confederation spur U.S. Constitutional Convention. -
Philadelphia Convention
This took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Constitutional Convention
This addressed problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution.
