9.7: Chronology

The following chronology is a list of important dates and events associated with this chapter.

Date	Event
1776	Continental Congress instructed the states to devise state governments; George Mason drafted Virginia’s Declaration of Rights; New Hampshire, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina adopted new state constitutions; Connecticut and Rhode Island revised their colonial charters
1777	Thomas Jefferson drafted the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom; Georgia and New York adopted new state constitutions
1778	South Carolina revised its constitution
1781	Massachusetts adopted a constitution; The Articles of Confederation took effect
1784	New Hampshire revised its constitution
1785	Land Ordinance outlined a plan for surveying and selling government lands
1786	Virginia legislature approved the Statute of Religious Freedom
1786-1787	Shays’s Rebellion
1787	Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia
1787-1788	The Federalist Papers were published
1788	Confederation government was phased out
1790	Pennsylvania revised its constitution; Rhode Island became the last state to ratify the Constitution