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The House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected representatives from Virginia that met from 1643 to 1776. This democratically elected legislative body was the first of its kind in English North America. From 1619 until 1643, elected burgesses met in unicameral session with the governor and the royally appointed governor’s Council; after 1643, the burgesses met separately as the lower house of the General Assembly of Virginia. Each county sent two burgesses to the House; towns could petition to send a single representative, as Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Norfolk did.
Moving toward independence
The Stamp Act Resolves that burgess Patrick Henry introduced in 1765 and the speech he made criticizing King George III for signing the Stamp Act verged on treason, but set the terms of colonial resistance to British policies for the next decade. Functioned as a simple parliament that passed legislation for the entire colony of Virginia. The Virginia Company appointed a governor and a council as part of the legislature. Each county sent two representatives and elections were held when the governor called them, not at regular intervals. Votes were cast viva voce, or by voice, the voters standing in front of the crowd to say the name of their chosen candidates out loud to be recorded by the sheriff.
Slavery, Expansion, & Powhatan Wars
In his resolves, Henry argued that the only authority authorized to levy taxes on Virginia colonists was the General Assembly itself, lest “British as well as American freedom” be destroyed. The Virginia Company was dissolved in 1624 CE, and the English government took direct control of the North American colonies. The House of Burgesses, however, continued to meet and pass legislation in accordance with the policies of the English government. In 1634 CE the assembly divided the ever-expanding colony into counties and reorganized representation, and the assembly was changed to a bicameral body in 1642 CE of the House of Burgesses and the Council of State. In 1676 CE, during Bacon’s Rebellion, Jamestown was burned and the government moved to the area of Middle Plantation, later known as Williamsburg. The House of Burgesses’ first order of business was relations between the colonists and Native Americans, and this would remain an ongoing concern of the assembly in the following years.
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(The College of William and Mary also had representation in the House.) Most burgesses were also members of the gentry class, though the colonists they represented were usually small land–owners and tenant farmers. In 1774, when the House of Burgesses began to support resistance to the Crown, Virginia’s royal governor, John Murray, earl of Dunmore, dissolved it. The Virginia Constitution of 1776 created a new General Assembly that replaced the governor’s Council with an elected Senate and the House of Burgesses with an elected House of Delegates. The House of Burgesses is notable, however, for being the training ground of many of America’s Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry. In April, 1619, Governor George Yeardley arrived in Virginia from England and announced that the Virginia Company had voted to abolish martial law and create a legislative assembly, known as the General Assembly — the first legislative assembly in the American colonies. Present were Governor Yeardley, Council, and 22 burgesses representing 11 plantations (or settlements) Burgesses were elected representatives.
Virginia House of Burgesses: Purpose, Facts, and Significance
Their purpose was to meet with the Governor and the Governor’s Council to discuss and pass laws for the colony. Over time, the House of Burgesses gained more power and eventually became a bicameral legislature. As the American Revolution intensified, it played a critical role in events, adopting the Virginia Stamp Resolves and organizing the permanent Committees of Correspondence. Some of the most important Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry served as Burgesses. The assembly was dissolved in 1776 when Virginia declared independence and created a state constitution. The legislative body continued to make and pass laws under the governor and the approval of the Virginia Company until 1624.
In Jamestown, Virginia, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World—the House of Burgesses—convenes in the choir of the town’s church. The Virginia Company was a joint-stock company, responsible for founding Virginia Colony in 1607, starting with the establishment of Jamestown. One of the founding members of the Virginia Company, Edwin Sandys, helped write a new charter for Virginia, known as the “The Great Charter,” which ordered Yeardley to establish a General Assembly, elected by the people of Virginia. It was never officially adjourned and became the General Assembly consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia, declaring its independence from Britain. Members of the House of Burgesses would play pivotal roles in the War of Independence and the founding of the United States’ government afterwards.
King James I officially dissolved the Virginia Company in 1624, making the settlement a royal colony, thus restricting the powers of the House of Burgesses. New governors were appointed and the legislative assembly continued to be an important political center for political debates. Few of the famous members were Peyton Randolph, William Byrd, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Pendleton, and Patrick Henry. After Bacon’s Rebellion, the king and his younger brother, James, the Duke of York (later King James II), began to impose stricter regulation on the colonies, specifically targeting the freedom of action exercised by colonial assemblies like the House of Burgesses.
Imperial authorities and a group of burgesses that included Richard Henry Lee felt that allowing one person to occupy these two positions consolidated too much power in a single man’s hands, but were unable to curtail his influence. It was not until after Robinson died that his accounts as treasurer were discovered to be in arrears of more than £100,000—he had been recycling currency earmarked for destruction by lending it to his friends and supporters, many of whom were burgesses themselves. The new system provided for local governments as well as a general assembly for the whole colony.
It was a unicameral legislative body until 1643 when Governor Sir William Berkeley allowed the House of Burgesses to meet separately, creating a bicameral legislative system. The provisions of the charter included an organization of self-government by the colonists along with selected representatives to regulate in the legislative assembly. This agreement gave the colonists the freedom of passing their own set of laws under the corporate control of the Virginia Company. Thus, the assembly of these elected colonists came to be known as the ‘House of Burgesses’.
Patrick Henry introduced a series of resolutions known as the Stamp Act Resolves, which argued that only the General Assembly had the authority to levy taxes on Virginia colonists. Henry also argued any attempts by the British government to tax Virginians without their consent was an attack on their rights. The resolutions were passed by the House of Burgesses and published throughout the American Colonies. At the first meeting of the House of Burgesses, 22 men, representing 11 settlements, assembled in Jamestown with Governor Yeardley and his Governor’s Council.
That June, under threat of violence from Bacon, the assembly voted to create a 1,000-man army with Bacon as commanding general. Charles II later ordered all of the session’s laws repealed because he believed (incorrectly) that Bacon had forced them on the assembly. The English kings who ruled the 13 original colonies reserved the right to decide the fate of their colonies as well, but not alone. The colonists drew upon their claims to traditional English rights and insisted on raising their own representative assemblies. Such was the case with the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first popularly elected legislative body in the New World. In colonial America, Maryland and Virginia had governing bodies known as the House of Burgesses.
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