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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
Magna Carta was drafted by Archbishop Stephen Langton and the most powerful Barons of England. It was signed by King John. It contained several clauses. King John later abandoned the Magna Carta which caused war, until his death. Then his son took over the throne. -
Petition of Right
The Petition was accepted by Charles l so that he can get the taxes he wanted.It was drafted by Sir Edward Coke. It restated some of the ancient rights and privileges of Englishmen. It was also an important document that set out the rights and liberties of the British subjects. -
English Bill of Rights
The document was created after the Glorious revolution of 1689. The English Bill denounced King James II for abusing his power and the bill was passed as British law in December. It declared that freedom of speech in parliament could not be challenged. Only 5 provisoins of the Bill of Rights had not been applied to the states. -
Stamp Act
Stamp act was introduced by the British prime minister George Grenville and passed by the British parliament. It required Americans to buy special watermarked for newspaper and all legal documents. The Virginia Resolves denied parliaments right to tax the colonies under the act. -
Townshend Duties
Charles Townshend put a series of acts laying import duties at American ports on paper, glass , and tea shipped from England. The moeny that was collected was used to pay the salaries of the British Colonial. The colonial opposition to the townshend Revenue act was powerful and effective. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was between British soldiers and colonists. The colonists threw snowballs with rocks in them at the British troops, several shots were fired. The first man killed was an African- American which started a war against the rebels. Later Great Britain didn't want to surrender all of their power so they kept the tax on tea. -
Tea Act
Tea Act was not intended to impose no new taxes. It also allowed to be shipped in East India company ships, and lowered the price on this East India tea so much that it was way below tea from other suppliers. In Boston the Royal governor was stubborn and held the ships in port. Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to Britain, -
1st Continental Congress
The Meeting was in the Carpenter's hall in philadelphia.The colonies were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. They wanted to appear as united colonies to Britain. The members had agreed to boycott British goods, and the King and Lord North of England had decided to punish and weakness the colonies. -
2nd Continental Congress
There were several new delegates. They had decided to completely break away from Great Britain. They had also established the militia as the continental army to represent the 13 colonies and made George Washington commander-in-chief to bring peace. The Congress began to act like a national government what later became the United States of America. -
Common Sense (Thomas Payne)
Thomas explained that the people must fight against the unfair ways of King George lll and the British parliament. He also talked about the government being a necessary evil. He didn't think government should control people. Few months later more then 500,000 copies were sold. People saw the "Common Sense" and it made colonists more ready to fight for their independence. -
Declaration of Independence signed
John Hancock signed the engrossed on parliament with a bold signature. 56 delegates later then signed the document. Congress ordered that the declaration be engrossed on parliament with a new title. The Declaration was to explain to the American colonists why the conitnental congress thought it was right to break with Great Britain.