Henry II created a new court system; noncriminal; court of the people, by the people;  wanted to take pressure off of the High Court

   --first use of precedents:  Judges use past decisions to help make their current decision, if there were none, then this decision becomes precedent for future cases.

Henry II expanded courts, added sheriffs/local justices;  the accused were given a chance to prove innocence at trial; standards were enforced;  the poor got access to the court system

King John, war with France, English Civil War = king   starting to lose power;  63 Articles that became the “Magna Carta”

                    --try to stopconflicts                                 --basis of democratic government

           --ruler must obey law just like the people

           --trial by jury

           --tax increases require a vote

àThese concepts failed until the establishment of Parliament in 1700s England.

1619   VIRGINIA HOUSE OF BURGESSES        

• 1^st democratic legislative body in American colonies
• England didn’t like this;  tried to veto decisions
• people gathering together & gaining voice in government à people want more power

• Pilgrims; religious freedom
• William Bradford – agreement to govern the Plymouth Colony
• 1^st “Americas Constitution” = agreement to self-government

1628  PETITION OF RIGHTS

• Charles I
• unconstitutional actions of king led to Parliament’s attempt to exercise power over the king
• rejected divine right of monarchs

1647  NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION

• union of 4 colonies; defend against Native Americans and enemies
• colonies shared beliefs, values
• confederation of New England colonies

1688  ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS à revision of Petition of Rights

• English Parliament à William III and Mary
• protect rights & liberty à Parliamentary sovereignty à limited powers of king

1696  WILLIAM PENN INTER-COLONIAL COOPERATION

• founder of Pennsylvania (PA), Quaker…religious freedom & free land
• idea of colonial cooperation
• unite colonies and work together

1754            ALBANY PLAN

• union of 13 independent colonies
• strengthen relationship with Iroquois
• Ben Franklin’s idea for all colonies = work together to solve problems

1754-1753   FRENCH & INDIAN WAR (Seven Years’ War)

• last conflict before Revolutionary War
• Native Americans and French  vs. English troops and colonial troops (not from England)
• English colonial population increasing;  needed to expand to the west
• Treaty of Paris = gave England most of the land from the French in Canada & east of the Mississippi River

1765 & 1766 STAMP ACT  (and Sugar, Tea, Intolerable and Townsend Acts)

• get money and taxes from colonists
• conflicts with taxation guidelines for king outlined in English Bill of Rights

• British soldiers fired into a crowd of protestors, killed 5
• propagandized à increased support for independence cause
• John Adams defended British soldiers

1771            COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE

• first step toward cooperation in colonies
• in Boston, MA
• helped colonists keep in touch with each other & keep informed of British anti-colonial movements
• within 3 months 80 committees were established nationwide

1772            BOSTON TEA PARTY

• protest Tea Act / unfair taxation
• Sons of Liberty dressed as Native Americans and threw 30,000 lbs. of tea (East India Company) into Boston Harbor
• one step forward toward Revolution

• Boston Tea Party led to the Coercive Acts
• Georgia (British occupied) – no representative, but agreed to support decisions
• formally protest all taxes

Oct. 26, 1774        DECLARATION OF RIGHTS – list of grievances; asking British to address problems

• written in First Continental Congressà repeal Coercive Acts
• petition sent to King George III
• colonists expected rights of life, liberty and property

• 13 colonies vs. Britain
• high taxes in colonies
• British troops sent to Massachusetts
• battles of Lexington & Concord à “shot heard ‘round the world”

May 10, 1775         SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• soon after Lexington and Concord – 65 delegates, including John Hancock, Ben Franklin, John Adams à wrote Declaration of Independence
• create better militia
• appointed George Washington as head of Continental Army

June 7, 1776         RICHARD HENRY LEE

• introduced resolution to separate from Britainàarchitect of Declaration of Independence
• 1 of six not present at the signing of the Declaration

served as 1^st President of Continental Congress

July 4, 1776          DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

• right to declare selves free
• support for independence of colonists
• gave reason why colonists should ban together in war effort
• John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and others

1776-1780             REVOLUTIONARY WAR/WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

• 8 years
• birth of USA
• first time colonies fought against colonial master for independence and freedom
• George Washington Commander in Chief
• 9/3/1783 à Treaty of Paris recognized USA as independent of Britain; by Britain and other countries
• military history: warfare changes; guerilla warfare considered “ungentlemanly” ;  bloody & expensive = 1780 – US in severe debt

1781            ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

• confederacy = reaction to monarchy
• John Dickinson wrote
• initially (at first) ineffective
• replaced by current Constitution