Government

  • Jun 15, 1215

    Magna Carta

    Magna Carta
    Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum, is a charter agreed by King John of England at Runnymede. Near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.
  • Petition of right

    Petition of right
    The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing.
  • English Bill of Rights

    English Bill of Rights
    English Bill of Rights (1689) The English Bill of Rights is an English precursor of the Constitution, along with the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right. The English Bill of Rights limited the power of the English sovereign, and was written as an act of Parliament.
  • Albany Plan of Union

    Albany Plan of Union
    The Albany Plan of Union was a proposal to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies. Suggested by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader (age 48) and a delegate from Pennsylvania, at the Albany Congress in July 1754 in Albany, New York.
  • Boston Massacure

    Boston Massacure
    The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770. In which British Army soldiers killed five male civilians and injured six others.
  • Boston Tea Party

    Boston Tea Party
    The Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party. In 1771, a group of colonists protest thirteen years of increasing British oppression, by attacking merchant ships in Boston Harbor. In retaliation, the British close the port, and inflict even harsher penalties.
  • First Continental Congress

    First Continental Congress
    The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met on September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution.
  • Second Continental Congress

    Second Continental Congress
    The Second Continental Congress was 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.
  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence
    The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress, states the reasons the British colonies of North America sought independence in July of 1776.
  • Articles of Confederation

    Articles of Confederation
    The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781.
  • Shay's Rebellion

    Shay's Rebellion
    Shays '​ Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in Massachusetts (mostly in and around Springfield) during 1786 and 1787. Which some historians believe "fundamentally altered the course of United States' [sic] history."
  • Philadelphia Convention

    Philadelphia Convention
    The Constitutional Convention :31 took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain.
  • Virginia Plan

    Virginia Plan
    Drafted by James Madison, and presented by Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a strong central government composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
  • New Jersey Plan

    New Jersey Plan
    The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787.