House of Burgesses
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The House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619. Over time, the name came to represent the entire official legislative body of the Colony of Virginia, and later, after the American Revolution, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In Britain, the term "burgess" had referred to a Parliamentary representative, as of a borough.
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[edit] History
The English settlement of the Virginia Colony which was established at Jamestown in 1607 was a proprietary venture authorized by King James I. The colony struggled and barely survived for its first few years. Finally, a strain of tobacco was introduced by colonist John Rolfe around 1612, and as a profitable export commodity, it led to increasing expansion, primarily along the James River.
Fearful of losing their investment, in 1619, the officers of the Virginia Company in London embarked upon a series of reforms designed to attract more people to the troubled settlement. They began by ending the company monopoly on land ownership, believing that the colonists would display greater initiative if they had an ownership position in the venture. The changes encouraged private investment from the colony's settlers which allowed them to own their own land rather than simply being sharecroppers. Four large corporations, termed citties (sic), were designated to encompass the developed portion of the colony. Company officials also made justice in Virginia more predictable by adopting English Common Law as the basis of their system, which replaced the whims of the governor as the final voice on legal matters. In 1620, in an effort to create a more stable society, the company dispatched a boatload of marriageable women to the colony; the going rate was 120 pounds of tobacco for each bride.
The changes in 1619 also created a legislative body to be selected by the colonists called the House of Burgesses, similar to the British Parliament, that would meet once annually.
Prompted by the Virginia Company, colonial governor Sir George Yeardley helped facilitate elections of representatives, called "burgesses", to this new legislative body that would come from eleven Virginia boroughs adjacent to the James River, along with eleven additional burgesses.
The first meeting of the House of Burgesses occurred on July 30, 1619 at Jamestown. It was the first such assembly in the Americas. The initial session accomplished little, however; it was cut short by an outbreak of malaria. The assembly comprised 22 members who represented the following constituencies:
- The governor, who was appointed to his position by the company officials in London
- The governor’s council, six prominent citizens selected by the governor
- The burgesses (representatives) from various locales, initially the larger plantations and later in Virginia history from the counties.
[edit] Governor's Council
The upper house was called the Governor's Council. Members of the first council were:
- Samuel Macock
- John Pory (designated speaker)
- Captain Nathaniel Powell
- Captain Francis West
- Reverend William Wickham
- John Twine (clerk of the General Assembly)
- Thomas Pierce, Sergeant of Arms
[edit] The lower house
The House of Burgesses was empowered to enact legislation for the colony, but its actions were subject to veto by the governor, council and ultimately by the directors in London. Nevertheless, such a legislative body would have been unthinkable in the Spanish or French colonies of that day, which highlights the degree to which the concept of a limited monarchy had become accepted by the English people.
Voting for the burgesses was limited to landowning males over 17 years of age.
The initial citties [sic] (corporations) and the plantations and their representatives in the House of Burgesses in 1619 were:
- Citties
- for James Cittie: Ensign William Spense and Captain William Powell
- for Charles Cittie: Samuel Sharpe and Samuel Jordan
- for the Cittie of Henricus: Thomas Dowse and John Plentine
- for Elizabeth Cittie (remamed from Kiccowtan: Captain William Tucker and William Capp
- Plantations
- for Martin's Brandon, Captain John Martin's Plantation: Thomas Davis and Robert Stacy
- for Smythe's Hundred: Captain Thomas Graves and Walter Shelley
- for Martin's Hundred (also known as Wolstenholme Towne): John Boys and John Jackson
- for Argall's Gift: Thomas Pawlett and Edward Gourgainy
- for Flowerdew Hundred: Ensign Edmund Rossingham and John Jefferson
- for Captain Lawne's Plantation: Captain Christopher Lawne and Ensign Washer
- for Captain Warde's Plantation: Captain John Warde and Lieutenant John Gibbes
- for Westover Plantation: William Byrd and his son, also named William Byrd
[edit] Effect
After 1619, The King of England took much more control of things in Virginia, restricting the powers of the House of Burgesses. They could make laws, which could be vetoed by the governor or the directors of the Virginia Company.
[edit] Royal colony
In 1624, the Virginia Company lost its charter, and Virginia became a royal colony. The House of Burgesses continued to meet, but its influence was severely restricted. Despite limitations on its actions, the assembly listed within its later ranks such notables as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, and would assume a major leadership role in the movement toward independence.
[edit] End of the House of Burgesses
In 1769, the House of Burgesses was speaking on the distresses of the British Taxation with no representation in which Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee were leading the committee. The committee then moved on to private petitions concerning fish traps but then one of Lord Botetourt's aids entered declaring that, "Mr. Speaker, The Governor commands the immediate Attendance of your House in the Council Chamber".
Peyton Randolph the speaker of the house led the men into the chamber. Botetourt then commanded, "I have heard of your resolves, and auger ill of their Effect: You have made it my Duty to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly."
The House then met in Anthony Hay's tavern, formally known as the Raleigh Tavern and planned the early stages of recourse which in that moment were just resolves and no act of revolution. This is when George Washington and Patrick Henry started to speak privately about their ideas on revolution.
In 1770 the House of Burgesses reformed but it was not long until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and the body's transformation into the Virginia House of Delegates.
[edit] Locations
In 1699, the seat of the House of Burgesses was moved to Middle Plantation, soon renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III. The Burgesses met there in two consecutive Capitol buildings (the first use of the word in the British Colonies) until December 1779, when they moved the capital city to Richmond for safety reasons during the American Revolutionary War. The present Capitol at Colonial Williamsburg reproduces the earlier of the two lost buildings.
[edit] Legacy
The Assembly became the Virginia House of Delegates in 1776, forming the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative branch of the Commonwealth (State) of Virginia.
In honor of the original House of Burgesses, every other year, the Virginia General Assembly traditionally leaves the current Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, where it moved in 1780, and meets for one day in the restored Capitol at Colonial Williamsburg.
In 2006, the Assembly held a special session at Jamestown to mark the 400th anniversary of its founding as part of the Jamestown 2007 celebration.
[edit] References
- Hatch, Charles E., Jr., (1956 rev). America's Oldest Legislative Assembly & Its Jamestown Statehouses, Appendix II. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
- Mayer, Henry "A Son of Thunder, Patrick Henry and the American Republic". New York: Franklin Watts, 1986.
