Origins of the American Government

--a document signed by King John in 1215 granting rights to the people of England. Meant to limit the power of the Crown.

Rights included: trial by jury, due process of law, and protection of life, liberty, and property.

--a document signed by Charles I in 1628 that further limited the Crown's power. It challenged the idea of Divine Right.

Rights included: protection from unlawful imprisonment or punishment, protection from martial law during a time of peace, and protection from taxation without Parliament's consent.

--drawn up in 1689 to prevent the abuse of power at the end of England's Glorious Revolution after William and Mary of Orange were offered the crown.

The English Bill of Rights: prohibited a standing army during peacetime, declared that all English citizens had a right to petition the monarch, required that parliamentary elections be free, and included rights that were already present in the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right.

A group of delegates from all of the 13 colonies (except Georgia) met in Philadelphia to discuss the situation with England and decide how to react. They sent a Declaration of Rights to King George III in which they protested the unfair laws that had been imposed upon them. They encouraged the colonies to refuse all trade with Britain until conditions were improved.

A war fought mainly between England and the American colonies. The war began at Lexington and Concord after Britain again and again refused to listen to the colonists' protests against the strict policies that were pressed upon them. On the American side, it was overseen by the Second Continental Congress and later by a Congress according to Articles of Confederation. It was concluded by the Treaty of Paris.

Delegates from each of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia and became our nation's first government. George Washington was appointed to commander in chief by this council. The Second Continental Congress served as a government through the Signing of the Declaration of Independence and until the Articles of Confederation went into effect, raising troops, making treaties, and buying supplies throughout the entire war.

This declaration announced the independence of America from Britain about a year after the Revolutionary War began. After this document was signed, the United States of America became an official nation of independent states.

The first governmental structure of the United States. Work on this document was begun immediately after the Declaration of Independence but it was not ratified March 1, 1781. This called for a Confederate geographic distribution of power, in which each individual state was sovereign and free, but united with the other states in "a firm league of friendship." The Articles of Confederation had some very clear issues, however, such as the inability of Congress to tax and regulate trade. It was soon replaced by our current Constitution.

--met to address and solve the problems that were present in the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan: called for a new government with three branches and a legislature with two houses. This congress would be give the power to force states to obey national laws and would elect a two-person "Council of revision" that a power to veto similar to that of our President.

New Jersey Plan: Congress would be given the power to tax and regulate trade, but a unicameral legislature would be maintained. Congress would also elect a plural federal executive.

Connecticut Compromise: It was decided that Congress should consist of two houses, one, the Senate, in which all states were equally represented and one, the House, representation would be based upon the population of each individual state.

After countless compromises, 39 of the 41 delegates of the Constitutional Convention signed our modern constitution into law.