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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
A charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede. -
Jamestown Settled
The first settlement in the Virginia colony and the first capital until the year 1699 -
Mayflower Compact was Written
The first agreement for self-government to be created and enforced in America. -
Petition of Right
A statement of civil liberties sent by the English Parliament to Charles I. Was a refusal to finance the king's unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to exact forced loans and to quarter troops in subjects' houses as an economy measure. -
English Bill of Rights
A British law passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. Declared the rights and liberties of the people and settling the succession. -
Albany Plan of Union
Its purpose was to create a unified government for the 13 colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader and a delegate from Pennsylvania, at the Albany Congress in Albany, New York. -
Stamp Act
New tax imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of paper they used (ex: ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers) -
American Revolution Begins
The revolution began because there were tensions between the residents of Great Britain's 13 North American colonies and the colonial government. The beginning of the war broke out in April of 1775 in Lexington and Concord. -
Boston Massacre
5 colonists were killed by British regulars on March 5, 1770. A heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of Massachusetts colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians. They boarded on three British tea ships. When the ships arrived at the Boston Harbor they dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. -
Intolerable Acts
A series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in the years of 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. This put into place to punish the Massachusetts colonists who acted out. -
First Continental Congress
Was held in the Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia and 56 delegates from all of the colonies except Georgia. They drafted a delegation of rights and grievances and elected Virginian Peyton Randolph as the first president of Congress. -
Second Continental Congress
Managed the colonial war effort, and moved towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 -
Declaration of Independence
Is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia on July 4,1776. Announced the 13 colonies independent. -
Articles of Confederation
Written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States just after declaring independence from Great Britain. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion was a series of protest by American farmers for enforcement on tax collections. -
Philadelphia Convention
Delegates from 5 states called for a Constitutional Convention in order to discuss improvements for the Articles of Confederation. The Convention was held in Philadelphia. -
Constitution Convention
The purpose of the convention was to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation -
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement that the large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States.
