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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is a list that has 63 clauses on it to limit King John's power. It was the first time the royalty became subject to the law. The Magna Carta was created to stop Kings having full power. It was important because the king had too much power and he could do anything he wanted. It helped make the US Constitution limit power. -
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes was an English Philosopher. The founding fathers rejected Hobbes argument that the government had absolute power over its subjects. "No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it". - Thomas Hobbes -
Petition of Rights
It was written by Parliament as an objection to an overreach of authority by King Charles I. During his reign, Citizens saw this overreach of authority as a major infringement on their civil rights. The Petition of Rights was created to give rights back to the citizens. The US Constitution uses this as a way for rights. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was a legal instrument that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. -
John Locke
John Locke was an English Philosopher. He rejected Hobbes argument that the government had absolute power over its subjects. "The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom". -John Locke -
Montesquieu
Montesquieu was an French Philosopher. He influenced the founding fathers by separation of powers. "There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice". -Montesquieu -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an act that the Parliament of England. The Bill created separation of powers, limits the powers of the King and Queen. -
Rousseau
Rousseau was an Genevan Philosopher. He developed a theory of government that the founding fathers liked. "Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost". -Rousseau -
Enlightenment
Ideas were thought up like Natural Rights, Social Contract, Revolution, and Reasoning. People Like John Locke -
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Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was an evangelical movement that swept the American colonies, in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. -
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. It was called in response to "The passage of the Coercive Acts". The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the thirteen colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775, in Pennsylvania. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By raising armies and etc, the Congress acted as the De Facto national government of what became the United States. -
Virginia Declaration of Rights
The Virginia Declaration of Rights is a document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. It helped the US Constitution inherent rights of men and can abolish wrong government. -
Articles of the Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among all thirteen original states in the United States of America that served as its first constitution. The articles of confederations helped the US constitution become a constitution. -
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Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Massachusetts during 1786 and 1787. Revolutionary war veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels in an uprising against perceived economic and civil rights injustices. In 1787, the rebels marched on the United States Armory at Springfield in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. Thomas Jefferson refused to be alarmed by Shays' Rebellion. He argued that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.
