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Sep 16, 1297
Magna Carta
On June 15, 1215, in a field at Runnymede, King John affixed his seal to Magna Carta. Confronted by 40 rebellious barons, he consented to their demands in order to avert civil war. Just 10 weeks later, Pope Innocent III nullified the agreement, and England plunged into internal war. -
Petition of right
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. Passed on 7 June 1628, the Petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restricts the use of martial law -
Bill Of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an English precursor of the Constitution, along with the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right. 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. The plan was adopted on July 1754, by representatives from seven of the British North American colonies. Although never carried out, it was the first important plan to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Boston Tea Party
The actual location of the Tea Party has a great historic significance, but being nothing more than a memorial marker on a busy street corner it make one wonder if there are other historic places in Boston that are connected with the most famous American protest -
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. -
Second Continental Congress
President Washington grew increasing exasperated with Continental Congress' inability to help him. He and the army were being chased from New York and through New Jersey in the fall of 1776. However, they had more than a couple conflicts of its own. -
Declaration of Independence
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument -
Articles Of Confederation
The original constitution of the United States, ratified in 1781, which was replaced by the US Constitution in 1789. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays's Rebellion, 1786–87, armed insurrection by farmers in W Massachusetts against the state government. Debt-ridden farmers, struck by the economic depression that followed the American Revolution, petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their own imprisonment for debt as a result of high taxes. -
Virgina Plan
Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan also widely known as the Small State or Paterson Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787.The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan, which called for two houses of Congress, both elected with apportionment according to population. -
Philadelphia Convection
The Philadelphia Convention, now often referred to as the Constitutional Convention, was a meeting held in 1787 by delegates from the 13 states that then comprised the United States. At first, the purpose of the convention was to address the problems the federal government was having ruling the states and staying fiscally sound under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation,
