This Day in the Law
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July 30

Virginia House of Burgesses Convenes as First Representative Assembly in America (1619)


On July 30, 1619, the first representative assembly in America, the Virginia House of Burgesses, convened in Jamestown, Virginia.

In June 1606, England’s King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company, to establish an English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. One year later, in 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was founded by 104 settlers from London. They were instructed to settle Virginia, find expensive raw materials, and locate a water route to Asia.

The original governor of the Virginia Company enacted strict laws on the settlers under martial law, i.e. military law. However, the colonists resented these laws and eventually threw out the governor with the newly elected governor, George Yeardley.

Yeardley assembled a group of 22 burgesses, i.e. delegates, to represent the 11 plantations within the Virginia Company – 2 burgesses for each plantation. The governor appointed 6 members of the colony and the other 15 members were elected by the colony by men 17 years of age or older who owned land. On this day, July 30, 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses convened in a small church in Jamestown, Virginia under the direction of Governor Yeardley and the 22 delegates. This meeting became the first representative assembly in America.

Yeardley's main goal was to provide Virginians similar rights as those living in England. The Assembly’s first order of business was to set a minimum price for the sale of tobacco. The assembly was eventually cut short because of an outbreak of malaria. However, the House of Burgesses became a symbol of representative government in America.

The House of Burgesses only met once the first year. But it continued to convene and makes laws. The House of Burgesses could enact legislation for the colony, but the governor could veto its actions, and ultimately the King of England could veto the governor’s actions.

In 1624, Virginia became a royal colony. At this time, England took back much of the control it gave the Virginia Company and restricted the powers of the House of Burgesses. This led to animosity between the colonists and settlers.

Through the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, many colonial leaders were members of the House of Burgesses, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry.

Eventually, the House of Burgesses pushed for the independence from Britain after Britain passed laws on the colonists that they considered "taxation without representation."