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Jun 1, 1215
The Magna Carta
One of the most important documents of Medieval England. It promised citizens a fair legal system. -
Jamestown Settlement
It was the first English colony in America to survive and become permanent. It supported itself through tobacc farming. -
Mayflower Compact
The pilgrams first planned to go to Virginia, but landed in Massachusetts instead. So they created an agreement to form a temporary government and be bound by its laws for their "New World." -
Petition of Right
A major English constitutional document intended to be a safegaurd of cheif liberties. It also prohibited the king from abusing his power. -
English Bill of Rights
One of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law. It intended to address the rights of citizens as represented by Parliament against the Crown. -
American Revolution Begins
It began with a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America. It ended in global war between several European great powers. -
The Albany Plan of Union
It was a plan written by Benjamin Franklin for all 13 colonies to unite and fight at one power to win the French and Indian War. It did not pass, but later served as an inspirational primer for the writing of the Articles of Confederation. -
The Stamp Act
It was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies. They put stamps on everything from letters to alcohol. -
The Boston Massacre
It was a fight between a "patriot" and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed, which led to propaganda that increased tentions between the colonists and the British. -
Boston Tea Party
It was a direct action by colonies in Boston against the British government. A group of Massachusetts colonists dressed as mohawked Indians and snuck of three British tea ships and dumped 342 chests of tea. -
The Intolerable Acts
Laws that King George III wrote to punish the colonists for dumping tea into the Boston Harbor. This also helped start the American Revolution -
The First Continential Congress
55 delagates discussed their resistance againt the Intolerable Acts. Congressman Galloway prepared a plan to make Parliament and a new American legislature to content to make the colonies' laws. -
Second Continential Congress
They decided to completely break away from Great Britain. Thay also decided they needed to organize the militia of the colonies better. -
Declaration of Independence
Document signed to declare Indepenced and officially the beginning of the United States of America. Great Britain regaured themselves as an independant state and was no longer a part of the British Empire -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly, but not entirely, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. -
Shay's Rebellion
Protest by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. The rebellion took its name from its symbolic leader, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, a former captain in the Continental army. -
The Constituational Convention
The convention faced a daunting task: the peaceful overthrow of the new American government as it had been defined by the Article of Confederation. The representatives of Connecticut finally came up with a workable compromise: a government with an upper house made up of equal numbers of delegates from each state and a lower house with proportional representation based upon population. -
Philadelphia Convention
Delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The assembly immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new scheme of government. -
The Connecticut Compromise
The so-called Great Compromise provided for a dual system of congressional representation. Under the plan, each state would be assigned a floating number of seats in the House of Representatives in proportion to its population.
