Political Science: Political History

Or Magna Charta [Lat., = great charter], the most famous document of British constitutional history, issued by King John at Runnymede under compulsion from the barons and the church in June, 1215.

Full and formal declaration adopted July 4, 1776, by representatives of the Thirteen Colonies in North America announcing the separation of those colonies from Great Britain and making them into the United States.

Document embodying the fundamental principles upon which the American republic is conducted. Drawn up at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787, and ratified by the required number of states (nine) by June 21, 1788.

First 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States, adopted as a group in 1791.

1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence.

Political upheaval of world importance in France that began in 1789.

Violent upheaval in Russia in 1917 that overthrew the czarist government.

Treaty establishing the European Union (EU).

(abbreviation UN) An association of independent states formed in 1945 to promote peace and international co-operation. MORE

An economic and political grouping that was formed (1993) to extend the European Community by adding common foreign and security policies to the single market. There are 15 members: the twelve members of the European Community and Austria, Finland, and Sweden, which joined in 1995. MORE

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international organization established in 1949, made up of US, Canada and a group of European states, having the aim of maintaining international peace. MORE