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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was a document that King John was forced by the barons to sign. This document limited the power of the King and made it so he had to go through Parliament in order to pass new tax laws, or any laws. It also protects the rights of the subjects so there would be no unjust or cruel punishment. It was the first document that limited the government's power and established the idea of limited government. It was signed on June 15, 1215. -
Virginia House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses was established in Virginia in 1619. This was the first in the colonies to legislate and make laws. The Virginia Company, the same organization that established the colony established this new form of government. It was established to encourage English craftsmen to move to the colony and be able to make their own laws to make living there better. In all, the House had 22 members. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower compact was signed aboard the Mayflower by most of the men onboard. It was the first self-governing system in the colonies. It was the first government to declare democracy among the people. They elected representatives that worked together to makes laws for the people. The Protestants aboard the ship were supposed to go to Virginia and join Jamestown but when they went off course they decided they needed to establish their own government and wrote the Mayflower Compact. -
English Bill of Rights
This document sets limits for the monarch and what they can and cannot do. It also states the rights of Parliament and says the rules for freedom of speech in Parliament. -
Beginning of French and Indian War
This war ended in 1763 with a british victory. It was a fight between the French and Native Americans, and Great Britan and the colonists. The French built forts to prevent colonist from trading with the Indians, this angered the King and he declared war on France. It was a very costly war but in the end England won. This war led to the colonies being heavily taxed because the troops fought to protect them in the war. -
Stamp Act
After the French and Indian War Britain felt that they had the right and responsibility to tax the colonies because the war was fought for them. So Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which said that any paper had to have a stamp on it to make it legal and the stamp cost money. This made colonists mad because they were being taxed without having any representation in Parliament, they also did not get what they were fight for after the F-I War. -
Boston Tea Party
The Sons of Liberty, a private organization against the British government dumped over 300 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor in order to protest the Townshed Acts. They dressed up as Mohawk Indians and threw the tea overboard. England was horrified and punished the colonists by passing the Intolerable Acts. They also made the colonists pay for all the tea that was wasted. This was another drop in the bucket on the way to revolution. -
First Continetal Congress
After the Intolerable Acts Massachusetts and Virginia called for a meeting of all 13 colonies. They discussed what to do about Britain and the unfair treatment of the colonies. It was decided they would not trade with England anymore and would stop using English goods. This was meant to urge England to make changes in their policies. The only colony who did not send a representative was Georgia. -
Lexingtn and Concord
"The shout heard 'round the world". Tensions were high between the colonies and Great Britain because of taxes, so King George stationed british troops in the colonies in case of a rebellion. British soldiers were ordered to take the militia's weapons away, the colonists heard about this and sent men like Paul Revere to warn those in Concord. On their way to Concord the redcoats were intercepted by militiamen in Lexington. No one knows who fired the first shot but it was the beginning of the War -
Second Continental Congress
This Congress was called three weeks after the start of the Revolutionary War. This Congress acted as a central government for the colonies and appointed John Hancock as the president. George Washington was made the commander of the Continental Army. They also organized a navy and issued money to all the war organizations. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was largely written by Thomas Jefferson, but he had help editing it by other important men. This was a list of grievances toward the King. It explained why the colonies were seprating from Great Britain. They hoped that the King would accept this with no war, but they knew that was not likely. 56 men at the Continental Congress signed this document. -
Articles of Confederation
Although the Articles were not a success they did work for a while. They called for a very weak central government and a unicameral Congress with no president. Congress only had power to deal with forgein affairs and to defend the country, everything else was left to the states. This was because they did not want to have an unjust leader like King George so all the power was largely left to the states. -
Peace Treaty with Great Britain
This treaty was signed in Paris, France. It stated that the colonies were a free an independent country from Great Britain. It established official boundaries between the states and England's land in North America. It also said the POWs from both sides were to be released. It did a lot of other things but granting the United States their freedom was the most important. -
Shay's Rebellion
Daniel Shay started an uprising in Massachusetts because of taxes on the farmers. He and others felt that this was unfair because they had just fought a War and now were being taxde heavily and going into debt. They shut down courthouses in order to stop the collecting of the taxes. The rebellion was stopped by military force. -
Constitutional Convention
George Washington presided over this convention. This convention's goal was to reorganize the government that everyone could see was much too weak. There were a lot of changes that occurred here and a lot of compromises. No press was allowed and delegates from all 13 colonies had to be there and agree on everything. -
Virginia Plan
Introduced by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, It proposed a bicameral legislature with an upper chamber and a lower chamber. A strong national executive branch, that was to be chosen by the legislature. Also a judiciary branch also chosen by the legislature. It needed work but became the basis of the Constutution. -
New Jersey Plan
Delagated led by William Paterson introduced the New Jersey Plan. It called from a government much like the Articles but the congress would be able to impose taxes and regulate trade. A weak excutive branch consisting of more than one person would be appointed as well. They creators of this plan did not want smaller states to be robbed of their equality that they had under the Articles. -
3/5 Compromise
Southerns wanted slaves to count toward their population, but Northerns said that they themselves said slaves were not people and therefore should not be counted toward the population. Blacks made up a large ammount of the South's population and southerns wanted more votes. But the south also did not want the slaves to count toward levying taxes. So they decided that each slave was 3/5 of a person, toward population and taxes. -
Connecticut Compromise
What was adopted as our government. The legislative branch was to have 2 parts, House of Representatives which would be based on the popualtion of the states and a Senate with two members from each state appointed. The House delt with revenue laws. The larger states would have an advantage in the House and the smaller states would be protected in the Senate. This plan worked for everyone. -
Rhode Island Ratifies
In order for the new Constitution to become offcial 9 out of 13 states had to approve it. Some states did not want to approve it until there was a Bill of Rights protecting certain rights of the people from the government. They were promised that one would written up and finally Rhode Island ratified making the Constitution law. -
The Bill of Rights
Here were stated certain rights that could not be taken away from the citizens. This document is what led certain states to ratify. This document is made up of the first 10 amendments. It also limits the government to a certain extent and protects personal rights of the people. -
Commerce/Slave Trade Compromise
The two issues that the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise delt with were whether Congress should be able to regulate trade and whether the United States should continue with slave trading. The North felt that Congress should control trade and also that they should put an end to slave trading. The South wanted slave trade to continue. The compromise was the congress could regulate trade and the issue of slavery would be put off for 20 years.
