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Aug 24, 1215
Magna Carta
-Barons force King John to sign the Magna Carta.
-included guarantees to protect them from arbitrary acts of the King.
-Trial by jury
-Due process of law (protection of life, liberty and property)
-Limited the power of the monarchy. -
Mayflower Compact
-The Mayflower Compact was written with fair and equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will of the majority of the people.
-When creating the Mayflower Compact, the signers believed that covenants were not only to be honored between God and man, but also between each other. -
The Petition Of Right
-The Petition was passed by Parliament in 1628 under pressure from the people.
-Stipulated that the King could no longer tax without parliament’s permission. -
English Bill Of Rights
-Provided freedom of speech and banned cruel or unusual punishment.
-The establishment of the English Bill of Rights was created because of repeated abuses of power by King James II during his reign from 1685 to 1689. -
Albany Plan of Union
-Delegates from the northern colonies and representatives from the Six Iroquois Nations met in Albany, New York.
-There they adopted a "plan of union" drafted by Benjamin Franklin. Under the plan each colonial legislature would elect delegates to an American continental assembly presided over by a royal governor. -
Stamp Act
-The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used.
-The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. -
Stamp Act Congress
-In response to the Stamp Act, issued by Parliament in March of 1765, waves of protest swept the British colonies, involving everyone from street mobs to civic leaders.
-In October, a Stamp Act Congress held in New York City petitioned Parliament for repeal. -
Boston Tea Party
-Parliament passed the Tea Act, granting the financially troubled British East India Company a trade monopoly on the tea exported to the American colonies.
-On the night of December 16, 1773, sixty men boarded the ships, disguised as Native Americans, and dumped the entire shipment of tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
-Series of laws sponsored by British Prime Minister and enacted in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party.
-These Acts were the harshest of all the Acts passed by Parliament. -
First Continental Congress
-The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia, to discuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts."
-The congress had three objectives: to compose a statement of colonial rights, to identify British parliaments violation of those rights, and to provide a plan that would convince Britain to restore those rights. -
Declaration Of Rights and Grievances
-Document created during the Committees of Correspondence declaring that taxes imposed on British colonists without their formal consent were unconstitutional.
-This was especially directed at the Stamp Act, which required that documents, newspapers, and playing cards to be printed on special stamped and taxed paper. -
Second Continental Congress
-On May 10, 1775, the members of the Second Continental Congress met at the State House in Philadelphia.
-The Second Continental Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Declaration Of Independence
-The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, states the reasons the British colonies of North America sought independence in July of 1776.
-It states that all men are created equal and there are certain rights that governments should never violate.
