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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is a document in which listed the rights of English nobles that could not be taken away from them. It has also limited the rights of the English monarch. -
Mayflower Compact
The Compact established a tradition of direct democracy which allowed citizens to hold town meetings to address issues at hand. -
Fundamental Orders of Connectitcut
This document is America's first written constitution and called for an assembly of elected representatives from each town to make laws. -
English Bill of Rights
This document limited the monarch's power even more and guaranteed free elections to Parliament, the right to a fair trial, and the elimination of cruel and unusual punishment. -
Stamp Act Congress
Nine out of the thirteen colonies sent representatives to hold a meeting in New York. The representatives prepared a declaration against the new British actions and was sent to King George III. Sending a declaration and holding the meeting marked the first time that a majority of the colonies banded together to oppose the British rule. -
Boston Massacre
The British was being assaulted by a group of colonists by rocks and snowballs, and the British fired. No one knows who shot first, but 5 people died. -
Tea Act
The colonists resented the new tea taxes and believed that they should not be taxed without representation in Parliament. Parliament passed the Tea Act that granted the British East India Company a monopoly on the sale of tea in the colonies. This made the East Indian Company tea cheaper than any other tea. -
Boston Tea Party
Angry colonists dressed up as Native Americans and dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor as a way of protesting. This protest became known as the Boston Tea Party. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates held their first meeting in Philadelphia that last for several weeks (September 5 to October 10, 1774), and sent a document to King George III demanding that the rights of the colonists be given back. The delegates also made plans to boycott British goods and once the Congress ended, they planned for another meeting if their demands were not met within the following year. -
Second Continental Congress
After the two battles between the British and colonial soldiers, colonial leaders met once again in Philadelphia. The Congress was divided, some did not favor independence and believed that the colonies could ever win a war against Great Britain. Others were still loyal to their home country. Congress spent months debating on their next move. -
Common Sense was Published
Thomas Paine, an American colonist, published Common Sense which was a pamphlet which described that the colonists needed to be completely independent from Great Britain. Paine's pamphlet influenced the colonists' to continue to fight for freedom. In the pamphlet, Paine described that it was "common sense" to stop following the "royal brute". -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration used traditional English political rights to call for independence for the colonies from King George and Great Britain. -
Three-Fifths Compromise
Delegates agreed that every five enslaved persons would count as three free persons. The three-fifths slave population would be used to determine representation in Congress -
The Virginia Plan
The plan described a federal government included a president, courts, and a congress with two houses. Based on the state's population would determine how many votes that state would get. The larger states favored this, however the smaller states feared that a government dominated by the larger states would ignore their interests. The Virginia Plan along with the New Jersey Plan eventually leads to the Great Compromise. -
The New Jersey Plan
The smaller states decided to make their own plan. William Paterson presented his own alternative plan where the government was similar to the Articles of Confederation.
