-
Intolerable Acts
Also called the Coercive Acts, and the British Parliament passed 5 laws in 1774 in response to the American’s colonial resistance to British rule (Boston Tea Party. It resulted in a rallying cry for patriots in America who felt as those acts took away some of their basic freedom. These acts helped to unite the colonies and push them closer to revolution -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Challenged the authority of British government and the royal monarchy. The Plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
Virginia Declaration of Rights
A document drafted to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish “inadequate” government. It served as a basis for the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. -
Declaration of Independence
The formal statement written by Thomas Jefferson declaring the freedom of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. -
Articles Of Confederation
Written agreement between the thirteen original states that established the confederacy known as the United States of America. It set the foundation for the constitution that the United States currently has in place. -
Shays' Rebellion
An uprising led by a former militia officer, Daniel Shays, which broke out in western Massachusetts in 1786. Shays’ followers protested the foreclosures of farms for debt and briefly succeeded in shutting down the court system. It persuaded conservatives of the need for a strong nation government and contributed to the movement to draft the Constitution.
