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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
This document was a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England. The two authors are King John of England and Stephen Langton. It was created as a peace treaty between the King and the rebels after the barons captured London in May of 1215. -
Jamestown Settled
The Virginia Company of England sailed to the new land and began a settlement. They established Jamestown, Virginia, on May 14, 1607, the first permanent British settlement in North America. Most settlers went to the Jamestown for economic reasons in hopes to get rich. The colony of Jamestown failed because of the laziness of the colonists, the location of Jamestown, and the disease and famine. They relied too much on the Indians so when they stopped helping, the colony failed. -
Mayflower Compact Written
The Mayflower Compact was a document signed on the Mayflower prior to its landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that is now the United States of America. -
Petition of Rights
The Petition of Rights was a statement of civil liberties sent by the English Parliament to Charles I. The petition sought to receive recognition for four principles: no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an act that sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown and limited the power of the monarchy, elevated the status of Parliament and outlined specific rights of individuals -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies. It was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin during the Albany Congress in 1754. The plan failed because the colonies were afraid of losing their own autonomy or self government. -
Stamp Act
This was an act passed by British Parliament that required American colonists to pay a tax on every printed piece of paper they used. -
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. British soldiers shot and killed five people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. It was an important event because it united colonist against Britain, which eventually led to the Revolutionary War. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest in Massachusetts where American colonists who were frustrated with Britain for imposing “taxation without representation" so they dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
These were laws passed by British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. Four of the acts were aimed to punish the Massachusetts colonies and the fifth was was related to Quebec as an additional threat to the liberty and expansion of the colonies. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia in order to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts. -
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American Revolutionary War
The American Revolution was a time when the British colonists in America rebelled against the rule of Great Britain. The American Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 until 1783. The revolution began when British soldiers and the colonies militia exchanged gunfire which was known as "the shot heard around the world." The war came to an end when General Cornwallis was surrounded and forced to surrender the British position at Yorktown, Virginia. Two years later the Treaty of Paris was signed. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress would represent America's first real attempt at representative self-governance. Eventually they would write the Articles of Confederations which was America's first try at the Constitution. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was the official act taken by all 13 American colonies in declaring independence from British rule. It was adopted at the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The authors include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston. -
Articles of Confederation
John Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware served as the principle writer. It served as the written document that established the functions of the United States' national government. -
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Shay’s Rebellion
Shays Rebellion was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787 caused by Economic policy; Aggressive tax and debt collection; Political corruption and cronyism -
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Philadelphia Convention
This convention was held in order to decide how America was going to be governed. They also aimed to revise and enlarge the Articles of Confederation. -
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was a major compromise at the Constitutional Convention that created a two-house legislature, with the Senate having equal representation for all states and the House of Representatives having representation proportional to state populations.
