Appendix 7: Important Events in the Development of American Constitutional Law
Author | Leonard W. Levy, Kenneth L. Karst |
Pages | 2979-2989 |
Page 2979
1215 | Magna Carta. |
1225 | Magna Carta reissued in the modified form that became the English statute. |
1295 | Parliament of three estates established, the model for all future English parliaments. |
1297 | Confirmatio Cartarum. |
1322 | That no statute could be made except by consent of both lords and commons was established and declared. |
1354 | The phrase "due process of law" was first used in a statute. |
1387 | By statute the king was forbidden to levy imposts, duties, or surcharges without consent of Parliament; the king could no longer legally raise revenue by his own authority alone. |
1407 | The king agreed that all revenue measures must originate in the House of Commons; this practice was followed in Article I, section 7, of the Constitution. |
1606 | Edward Coke was appointed Chief Justice of Common Pleas. He was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench ("Lord Chief Justice of England") in 1613. |
First Virginia Charter. | |
1608 | Calvin's Case. |
1610 | Bonham's Case. |
1619 | The General Assembly of Virginia met, the first representative assembly in the New World. |
1620 | Mayflower Compact. |
1628 | Petition of Right. |
1629 | Charter of Massachusetts Bay Company. |
1635 | Massachusetts General Court established a committee to write fundamental laws to limit magistrate, "in resemblance to a Magna Carta." |
Roger Williams banished by the General Court of Massachusetts. He founded Providence Plantation in 1636. | |
In instructions to Governor Wyatt, the Virginia Assembly was officially recognized as a permanent institution, to meet at least annually. | |
1639 | Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. |
1641 | Courts of High Commission and Star Chamber abolished; oath ex officio abolished. |
Massachusetts Body of Liberties. | |
The Grand Remonstrance charged King Charles I with various unlawful acts and demanded that executive power be exercised by ministers in whom Parliament had confidence. | |
1643 | Roger Williams's The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution. |
1644 | John Milton's Areopagitica, a plea against prior restraint and censorship, published. |
1644 | Massachusetts General Court became bicameral, as Assistants met separately from Assembly. |
1647 | Massachusetts General Laws and Liberties. |
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1649 | Maryland Toleration Act. |
1652 | Roger Williams's pamphlet The Bloudy Tenent Yet More Bloudy published. |
1653 | The Instrument of Government, the short-lived written constitution of the English commonwealth, promulgated by Oliver Cromwell. |
1660–1696 | Navigation Acts. |
1662 | Royal Charter for Connecticut (constitution until 1818). |
1663 | Royal Charter of Rhode Island (constitution until 1842). |
1664 | New York granted to Duke of York as proprietary colony; the proprietor to have complete power to make laws. |
1670 | Bushell's Case. |
1679 | Habeas Corpus Act. |
1682 | Pennsylvania Frame of Government. |
1687 | William Penn's The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property published; it included the first text of and commentary on Magna Carta published in America. |
1689 | Act of Toleration. |
English Bill of Rights. | |
John Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration. | |
1690 | John Locke's Two Treatises of Government. |
1695 | The last English licensing act, restricting freedom of the press, expired. |
1698 | Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government. |
1701 | Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties. |
1720–1721 | Trenchard and Gordon's essays, Cato's Letters and The Independent Whig, first published. |
1733 | Molasses Act. |
1735 | Zenger's Case. |
1748 | Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. |
1754 | Albany Plan of Union proposed by the Albany Congress. |
1758 | Emerich de Vattel's Law of Nations and of Nature. |
1762 | Massachusetts General Court voted a ban on general warrants; it was disallowed by the Governor. |
1763 | Paxton's Case (Writs of Assistance Case). |
1764 | James Otis, in The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, denied the right of Parliament to tax the Americans and maintained that a court could judge an act of Parliament void if it was contrary to natural justice. |
The Sugar Act (American Revenue Act) was the first attempt by the British Parliament to tax the colonists for revenue purposes. | |
1765 | Entick v. Carrington. |
Stamp Act. | |
Stamp Act Congress. | |
1765–1769 | William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England published. |
1766 | A county court in Northhampton County, Virginia, in an advisory opinion, declared the Stamp Act unconstitutional and therefore void. |
Declaratory Act. | |
1767–1768 | John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania published. |
1768 | Massachusetts Circular Letter. |
1772 | Somerset's Case. |
1773 | Constitutional debate in Massachusetts; Governor James Hutchinson, in a message to the General Court, asserted that supreme power must rest somewhere; the alternatives were parliamentary rule or independence. The General Court replied that sovereignty could be, and, in fact, already was, divided. |
1774 | Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts), including Administration of Justice Act. |
First Continental Congress. | |
The Association. | |
Joseph Galloway proposes his Plan of Union. | |
Thomas Jefferson's Summary View of the Rights of British America. | |
1775 | Second Continental Congress convened. |
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. |
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1776 | Thomas Paine's Common Sense. |
Declaration of Independence. | |
Dickinson's draft of Articles of Confederation submitted to Congress. | |
1776–1780 | First state constitutions written. |
1777 | Articles of Confederation approved by Congress and submitted to states. |
1779 | Congressional resolution asked states to cede their western lands to the United States. |
1780 | Holmes v. Walton (New Jersey). |
1781 | Articles of Confederation ratified and in force. |
1783 | Quock Walker's Case (Massachusetts). |
1784 | Rutgers v. Waddington (New York). |
James Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance" against religious assessments. | |
1786 | Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. |
Ten Pound Act Cases (New Hampshire). | |
Trevett v. Weeden (Rhode Island). | |
Annapolis Convention. | |
1787 | Bayard v. Singleton. |
Congress adopted resolution calling federal Constitutional Convention. | |
John Adams's Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States. | |
Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia and drafted Constitution of the United States. | |
Northwest Ordinance. | |
Congress transmitted Constitution to the states for ratification. | |
1787–1788 | The Federalist. |
1788 | Constitution ratified by required nine states. |
Congress adopted ordinance to put Constitution into effect. | |
1789 | George Washington chosen President. |
Departments of State, War, and Treasury created. | |
Judiciary Act of 1789. | |
Habeas Corpus Act. | |
Bill of Rights proposed. | |
President Washington appeared in person to ask the Senate's advice and consent relative to an Indian treaty; failure to act cost the Senate a role as the President's council of advice. | |
1790 | Alexander Hamilton's Report on the Public Credit. |
Treason Act. | |
1791 | Champion and Dickason v. Casey. |
Bank of the United States Act. | |
Bill of Rights ratified and in effect. | |
Hamilton's Report on Manufactures. | |
1792 | Hayburn's Case. |
President Washington used the presidential veto power for the first time, vetoing a reapportionment bill he thought unconstitutional. | |
1793 | Chisholm v. Georgia. |
First Fugitive Slave Act. | |
The Supreme Court, presented with a list of questions from the President and the cabinet concerning relations with France, refused to give an advisory opinion. | |
Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality in the Wars of the French Revolution. | |
1794 | Jay's Treaty. |
Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania against federal alcohol tax. Suppressed by militia of four states under federal control. | |
1795 | Van Horne's Lessee v. Dorrance. |
Post Office Department created. | |
Ware v. Hylton. | |
1796 | Hylton v. United States. |
Washington's Farewell Address. | |
XYZ Affair began three-year undeclared war with France. | |
1798 | Alien and Sedition Acts. |
Calder v. Bull. |
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Department of the Navy created. | |
Eleventh Amendment ratified and in effect. | |
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. | |
1799 | Second set of Kentucky Resolutions claimed states could nullify unconstitutional acts of Congress. |
1801 | Electoral College tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr resolved in House of Representatives; this led to the Twelfth Amendment. |
John Marshall became Chief Justice. | |
Judiciary Act of 1801. | |
1802 | Judiciary Act of 1801 repealed; Judiciary Act of 1802 enacted. |
1803 | Marbury v. Madison. |
Stuart v. Laird. | |
Louisiana Purchase Treaty. | |
1804 | John Pickering, United States District Court judge for New Hampshire, having been impeached by the House of Representatives of malfeasance and intemperance, was convicted by the Senate and removed from office. |
Twelfth Amendment ratified and in effect. | |
1805 | Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, having been impeached by the House of Representatives of oppressive and partisan conduct, was acquitted by the Senate. |
1807 | Ex Parte Bollman and Swartwout. |
Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. | |
Embargo Act. | |
Trial of Aaron Burr (United States v. Burr). | |
1809 |
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