 A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital |
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This bill lays out punishments that suit a series of specific crimes. It is part of a series of bills revising Virginia's colonial laws as Virginia transitioned from colony to commonwealth. It limits the use of capital punishment for crimes other than murder and treason.
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| Administration of Justice Act |
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One of the Intolerable Acts, the Administration of Justice Act was known as the Murder Act by colonists. The Administration of Justice Act allowed the Governor to remove any acquisition placed on a royal official if the governor did not believe the official would receive a fair trial. Colonists referred to this act as the Murder Act because they believed it would allow royal officials to get away with murder. The Intolerable, or Coercive, Acts were passed as a reaction to the Boston Tea party to reduce the rights of Massachusetts colonists and strengthen royal control over the colony. After this act and the other Intolerable Acts were passed, the First Continental Congress met to formalize a reaction to the perceived overstepping of British parliament.
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| An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa |
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A first-person account of what the slave trade looked like and the conditions on slave ships. The account demonstrates the cognitive dissonance between understanding that enslaved people are humans and the profit-centered ways they were treated.
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| Articles of Confederation |
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The first constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation, were only in place for eight years due to the limited power granted to the federal government. The Articles of Confederation were replaced by the current constitution in 1789.
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| Boston Port Act |
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One of the Intolerable or Coercive Acts, the Boston Port Act closed Boston harbor to all commerce until the city paid for the tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Port Act attempted to subdue Boston’s revolutionary residents. After this act and the other Intolerable Acts were passed, the First Continental Congress met to formalize a reaction to the perceived overstepping of British parliament.
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| Declaration of Independence |
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The Declaration of Independence formally announced the separation of the 13 United States from the United Kingdom. The document lists the reasons members of the second Continental Congress believed they should no longer be under British colonial rule.
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| Juan Domingo Lopez v. Francis Phillips |
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In this colonial era freedom suit, attorney Samuel Chase argued that slavery was "odious to the British Constitution" and freedom a "Natural Right" two years before Lord Mansfield did the same in Somerset v. Stewart.
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| Lord Dunmore's Proclamation |
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In this proclamation, Lord Dunmore, the last Royal Governor of Virginia, declared martial law in the colony at the start of the American Revolution. He incentivized enslaved people to join the British Army by offering them freedom in exchange for service, which in turn helped mobilize American enslavers against the British Army.
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| Massachusetts Government Act |
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One of the Intolerable or Coercive Acts, the Massachusetts Government Act gave the right to appoint a governor of Massachusetts to the King and Queen. This act was passed following the Boston Tea party and restructured Massachusetts’s government to give the monarchy more control over the colony. After this act and the other Intolerable Acts were passed, the First Continental Congress met to formalize a reaction to the perceived overstepping of British parliament.
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| Message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy |
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This message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy addresses members of the Continental Army after they were sent to New York City from Albany by General Philip John Schuyler. After New York, they traveled to Philadelphia where they addressed the Continental Congress. This document reflects the involvement of Native Americans in the American War for Independence.
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| New Jersey Constitutional Franchise Provision |
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This provision of the first New Jersey Constitution did not limit franchise by race or gender, allowing unmarried women and free people of color who could meet the property requirement to vote. When New Jersey rewrote its constitution in 1844, it explicitly denied women and African Americans the right to vote.
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| New York Charter of Liberties and Privileges |
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The New York Charter of Liberties and Privileges established the political organization of the colony of New York, set up election procedures, and guaranteed certain rights to colonists. This document created a democratic colony with the right to vote for the General Assembly given to "every freeholder within this province and freeman in any corporation." Extra protection is granted to Christians, although the document allows for religious freedom given practice does not "disturb the peace of the colony."
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| Plymouth, Massachusetts, Colonial Court Cases |
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These excerpts from the Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England document Native Peoples' engagement with the law after a 1641 code grants due process.
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| Quartering Act (1765) |
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A part of the American Mutiny Act, the Quartering Act required American colonists to house and board British soldiers. The Act placed financial burden of quartering soldiers on the colonies. It specified the supplies soldiers of different ranks were expected to be furnished with by the colonies, and the costs associated with failure to comply. This act is the reason the Third Amendment was included in the Constitution of the United States. Like the Stamp and Sugar Acts, the Quartering Act forced colonists into extra financial responsibilities without any representation in Parliament.
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| Quartering Act (1774) |
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One of the Intolerable or Coercive Acts, the Quartering Act of 1774 expanded the Quartering Act of 1765 to allow soldiers to be housed in private homes. While the other Intolerable Acts applied directly to Massachusetts, the Quartering Act applied to all of colonial North America. After this act and the other Intolerable Acts were passed, the First Continental Congress met to formalize a reaction to the perceived overstepping of British parliament.
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| Somerset v. Stewart |
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This case heard before the English Court of King's Bench determined that slavery was unsupported by English Common Law and that no enslaved person could be forced out of England to be sold into slavery. James Sommerset was an enslaved person who had been purchased by Charles Stewart in Boston, Massachusetts, then taken to England. Sommerset later escaped, and Stewart had him captured and imprisoned on a ship headed to Jamaica. Sommerset's godparents applied for a writ of habeas corpus. Following the court’s decision, enslaved people in the American Colonies filed freedom suits on Mansfield's ruling.
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| Stamp Act |
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The Stamp Act placed a tax on various printed material like legal documents, playing cards, and newspapers. The act specifies skins and pieces of parchment serving various legal roles and the differing amounts of tax each document needed. The tax’s payment was confirmed by the placement of a stamp indicating a specific amount on the good. It was the first of a series of taxes placed on the North American colonies without their consent, sparking protest and resistance.
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| Tea Act |
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The Tea Act created a monopoly on the tea trade for the East India Company. It ultimately lowered tea prices in Britain but forced colonists to pay the Townshend tax on tea. Reactions to the Act sparked the Boston Tea Party. Prior to the Tea Act, the East India Company was required to sell tea directly to London and then other merchants would sell tea to the colonies. The Tea Act eliminated third party merchants and forced colonists to buy taxed tea.
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| Townshend Revenue Act |
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The Townshend Acts were a series of taxes and regulations imposed on the American colonies by the British Parliament. The Townshend Revenue Act levied taxes on glass, lead, tea, and paper, replacing the Stamp Act, which was repealed the year before.
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| Treaty of Fort Stanwix |
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This treaty is the first formal treaty between the British and the Six Nations following the French and Indian War. Large amounts of Native American land were ceded to the British as a result of this treaty.
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| Treaty of Paris |
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The Treaty of Paris was signed by the United States and Britain in 1783 to end the American War for Independence (1775- 1783). It recognized the United States as an independent state and delineated the Western boundaries of the new country.
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