US Constitution

  • The Declaration of Rights and Grievances is passed

    The Declaration of Rights and Grievances is passed
    The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was a document created and passed October 19, 1765 by the Stamp Act Congress, 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.
  • Boston Tea Party

    Boston Tea Party
    On Monday morning, the 29th of November, 1773, a handbill was posted all over Boston, containing the following words: "Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!--That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in the harbor
  • First Continental Congress meets

    First Continental Congress meets
    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. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Britain, but their aims were not uniform.
  • Revolutionary War Begins

    Revolutionary War Begins
    At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town's common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment's hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green.
  • 2nd Continental Congress Meets

    2nd Continental Congress Meets
    The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun.
  • Declaration of Independence is signed

    Declaration of Independence is signed
    Fifty-six congressional delegates in total signed the document, including some who were not present at the vote approving the declaration. The delegates signed by state from North to South. this Documment showed Britain that US was a nation and independent from them.
  • Articles of Confederation is signed

    Articles of Confederation is signed
    The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments.
  • Revolutionary War Ends

    Revolutionary War Ends
    The American Revolution was fought from 1775 to 1783.
    It effectively ended in October, 1781 in Yorktown, VA after George Washington forced General Cornwallis to surrender after the siege there. But the Revolutionary War didn't officially end until the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783
  • Constitutional congress opens

    Constitutional congress opens
    The year was 1787. The place: the State House in Philadelphia, the same location where the Declaration of Independence had been signed 11 years earlier. For four months, 55 delegates from the several states met to frame a Constitution for a federal republic that would last into "remote futurity." This is the story of the delegates to that convention and the framing of the federal Constitution.
  • Final Draft of The Constitution is Signed

    Final Draft of The Constitution is Signed
    On September 17, 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution. Two days earlier, when a final vote was called, Edmund Randolph called for another convention to carefully review the Constitution as it stood. This motion, supported by George Mason and Elbridge Gerry, was voted down and the Constitution was adopted.