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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
A charter written by King John of England, Stephen Langton, and his barons in order to keep peace with a group of rebelling civilians. -
Jamestown Settled
Jamestown was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. -
Mayflower Compact Written
It was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. The Mayflower Compact was written by the Father Pilgrims in order to establish a set of guidelines to follow before reaching their final destination. -
Petition of Right
A major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. It was written by Sir Edward Coke, a laywer. -
Albany Plan of Union
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. The idea to write the plan came from Benjamin Franklin. -
Stamp Act
An act of the British Parliament that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is an act of the British Parliament in 1756 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a spontaneous battle that occurred between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. -
Boston Tea Party
A political protest against British taxes by the Sons of Liberty. The protesters wanted equal representation in government if they had to pay taxes. -
First Continental Congress
A meeting, which lasted over one month, of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met in Carpenters' Hall. They discussed whether or not they should boycott British trade, as well as other topics. -
Intolerable Acts
The American Patriots' name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. -
Second Continental Congress
A convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
American Revolution Begins
The American Revolutionary War was the armed conflict between Great Britain and thirteen of its former North American colonies, which had declared themselves the independent United States of America. -
Declaration of Independence
The statement adopted by the Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which announced that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Articles of Confederation
An agreement between all thirteen original states in the United States of America as its first constitution. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. -
Philadelphia Convention
A meeeting to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution.
