Burgess Legacy Geneaology Project: House of Burgesses

The House Of Burgesses

The House of Burgesses was the name given to the first governing legislative body in the English colonies of the New World. It was formed out a number of government reforms at the Jamestown colony to represent the Virginia Colony and later the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Virginia Company of London, England, owned the Jamestown colony, which had grown to around 1,000 colonists by 1619. As with most British colonies at this time, Jamestown was established as a business venture to produce goods that were to be shipped back to England for later sale. In order to help make the Jamestown colony more profitable, the Virginia Company enacted several changes. The company established English Common Law and encouraged the colonists of Jamestown to engage in private investment through which the colonists were allowed to own land rather than being simple sharecroppers or tenant farmers.

The first session of the House of Burgesses met at the Jamestown church, Jamestown then being the capital of the Virginia Colony, on the unbearably hot day of 30 July 1619. Colonial governor Sir George Yeardly called the meeting and facilitated the elections of the representatives, or burgesses, to this newly formed legislative body. For all intents and purposes the House of Burgesses was very similar to the British Parliament that would include two citizens, or Burgesses, from each of the 11 boroughs (subdivisions) adjacent to the James River along with eleven additional burgesses of the Virginia Colony.

Among the 22 members was the governor, who was appointed by the officials of the Virginia Company in London. The governor, in turn, appointed six (6) prominent members of the colony to be his council. The remaining fifteen (15) members were, as a whole, who were men over the age of 17 that owned land were elected by the inhabitants of the colony.

The Governor's Council

The Governor, Sir George Yeardly

Samuel Macock

John Pory (Secretary and Speaker)

Captain Nathaniel Powell

Captain Francis West

Reverend William Wickham

John Rolfe

John Twine (Clerk of the General Assembly)

Thomas Pierce (Sergeant of Arms)

Plantations and their representatives
James City	Ensign William Spense, Captain William Powell
Charles City	Samuel Sharpe, Samuel Jordan
City of Henricus	Thomas Dowse, John Plentine
Kiccowtan	Captain William Tucker, William Capp
Martin-Brandon-Captain John Martin's Plantation	Thomas Davis, Robert Stacy
Smythe's Hundred	Captain Thomas Graves, Walter Shelley
Martin's Hundred (also known as Wolstenholme)	John Boys, John Jackson
Argall's Guiffe	Thomas Pawlett, Edward Gourgainy
Flowerdieu Hundred	Ensign Edmund Rossingham, John Jefferson
Captain Lawne's Plantation	Captain Christopher Lawne, Ensign Washer
Captain Warde's Plantation	Captain John Warde, Lieutenant John Gibbes

The first order of business for the House of Burgesses was to approve the official great seal for the Virginia Colony and set the minimum price for the sale tobacco. It even claimed the right to act on all local tax laws. Although the first session was cut short due to an outbreak of Malaria, the House of Burgesses soon became the blueprint of representative government and the foundation of self-government in the American colonies - even the United States.

The House of Burgesses made up the other part of the General Assembly. Its members were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony. Each settlement chose two people or burgesses to represent it. The Burgesses met to make laws for the colony and set the direction for its future growth.

The idea of electing burgesses was important and new. It gave Virginians a chance to control their own government for the first time. At first the burgesses were elected by all free men in the colony. Women, indentured servants, and Native Americans could not vote. Later the rules for voting changed, making it necessary for men to own at least fifty acres of land in order to vote.

In 1621, the House received the authority to make all legislation concerning the colony, but the governor and his council had the right of veto. The House of Burgesses conformed to the established English law and used the same procedure as the English Parliament.

After the death of King James I of England in 1625, the English government became preoccupied with its own internal affairs. From then on, the House of Burgesses managed the affairs of the Virginia colony. During the ensuing years, troubles beset the House. The failure of Governor Sir William Berkeley to call a new election to the House of Burgesses was one of the many grievances that led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

Bacon's Rebellion was a revolt of Virginia colonists against the colony's English government in 1676. Nathaniel Bacon, a prosperous young planter, headed the uprising. The colonists charged that Governor William Berkeley would do nothing to stop Indian raids on the western settlements. As the colonists moved westward, the native Indian tribes grew threatened and restless. The colonists also claimed that Berkeley granted political and commercial favors to his friends. Berkeley claimed, with some justice, that western Virginians killed Indians to obtain more land for the growing colony.

A group of Virginia colonists asked Bacon to lead an expedition against the Indians. After doing so, he and his followers made Governor Berkeley call an assembly to grant general political reforms. Later, Governor Berkeley branded Bacon a rebel, and Bacon and his followers returned to burn Jamestown. Bacon died that year, but his rebellion led to the removal of Berkeley and to colonial reforms. Some historians dispute the charges against Berkeley.

In 1698 the seat of the House of Burgesses was moved to Middle Plantation soon renamed Williamsburg. The Burgesses met there, in two consecutive Capitol buildings (the first use of the word in the English Colonies) until December 1779, when they removed to the new capital, Richmond. The present House of Burgesses at Colonial Williamsburg reproduces the earlier of the two lost buildings.

The House of Burgesses was not completely democratic. However, it contributed to the development of representative government in colonial America. Temporarily dissolved in 1774, members of The House Of Burgesses met in the first revolutionary convention of Virginia. There they elected delegates to the First Continental Congress of this forming country. In 1776, the Virginia House of Burgesses became the Virginia House of Delegates, which still operates today along with the Virginia Senate to make up the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative branch of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Some members of the House of Burgesses became leaders of the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783).

Note: While the Webmaster has no record of any Burgess ancestor (mentioned on this site) actually serving in The House of Burgesses, the foregoing information is offered only as a historical side note for which the Burgess surname is best known.

More information about The House of Burgesses (and Jamestown) can be found at: The Colonial National Historical Park website sponsored by the US National Park Service.