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Nov 8, 1215
Magna Carta
magna carta infoThe Magna Carta was forced upon King John of England. He was required to signed this document at the Runnymede which gave his people more rights than ever before and limited the king's power. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was originally created to ensure stability between those who signed it. It was he first form of government formed by the settlers. -
Petition of Rights
Parliment inforced this document upon Charles I at the beginning of his reign. The Petition of Rights declared the following liberties and rights to his people:t hat no freeman should be forced to pay any tax, loan, or benevolence, unless in accordance with an act of parliament, no freeman should be imprisoned contrary to the laws of the land, tsoldiers and sailors should not be billeted on private persons, and commissions to punish soldiers and sailors by martial law should be abolished. -
English Bill of Rights
During the reighn of William and Mary of England, the English Bill of Rights was formed. The signers, William and Mary, granted freedom of speech for parliament, the right to petition a monarch, and the reestablishment of the liberty of Protestants. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union, suggested by Benjamin Franklin, was simply a proposal on the unification of the thirteen colonies. It was originally created to act as a defense against the French and Indian War. -
King George III takes power
By making his people pay taxes, he was able to finance the French and Indian war. Additionally, the taxes enabled him to pay his soliders. Without these taxes, there would have been no way to finance the war so it might not have happened. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act taxed legal documents, magazines, newspapers, and other types of paper. However, this led to the creation of the Committee of Correspondence. The purpose of this committee was to coordinate actions against this act and the sugar act. The leaders of the committee despised taxation without representation. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was brought upon by the ever-increasing feud between the colonists and the british soldiers. By enforcing new taxes and stationing troops in the colonies, the British enfuriated the Colonists. Therefore, a mob of dissastified civilians crowded a small force of troops and shots were fired. Five colonists wer killed. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea party clipThe Boston Tea Party was an act of defiance by the colonists, specifically the Sons of Liberty. The colonists were infuriated by the taxes on the imported tea from the East India Company. The Sons of Liberty dressed as Native Americans and raided the ships. They dumped all the tea into the bay. The British then closed commerce within Massachusetts and began the intolerable acts. -
French and Indian War
This war was fought by the Colonists, British, French, and Native Americans. Both the Battle of jumonville and the Battle of Lake George were major skirmishes. Britain eventually won the war and forced the colonists to pay taxes in recompense. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was held at Carpenter's Hall in Pennsylvania. Peyton Randolph precided over the preceedings, while Charles Thomson was the secretary. The main accomplishment of the First Continental Congress was the boycott of all British goods. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were passed after the French and Indian War. These acts were heavy taxes that eventually lead to the Boston Tea party because the citizens of the colonies rebelled. In some cases a rebellion serves it purpose but this time it did not. The kind of Great Britian enforced the punative acts and again made his people sumit to his power. -
Lexington and Concord
General Gage of Britian sent troops to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, both Colonial leaders. The British planned to attack early in the morning in hopes of an easy victory. However, thanks to Paul Revere, who signaled the townspeople by lighting a lantern and supposedly shooting the infamous phrase "the Bristish are coming, the British are coming" the townspeople quickly armed themselves and eventually fought back the Brits. This was the turning point in the war for the colonies. -
Second Continental Congress
Naturally the Second Contintental Congress was held in Philidelphia, Pa. Since the war was already underway at this time, one main result of this meeting was George Washington's dispatchment to Massachuttes as the commander. Another main concern during the Second Continental Congress was the Olive Branch Petition which was an attempt to resolve conflicts between Great Britian and the Colonies. King George III refused to even open the petition. -
Beginning of Constitutional Convention
Great activities about Constitutional Convention and History
The Constitutional Convention was a result of the weak central government previously talked about in the Articles of Confederation. At the convention, actions were taken to strengthen the central government. For instance, the executive branch delt with forgein concerns, the important decisions and powers remained to the legislative branch. -
Declaration of Independence
After many revisions by Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Adams, the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted on July 4th, 1776. This document established our independence from Great Britian after the long war and is the reason Independence is on July 4th. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation of sovereign states and had a weak central government. Must of the power was given to each individual state. Although the central government meant was weak, it did grow and become more involved. John Hanson would be the first president under the Articles of the Confederation.
