The Virginia House of Burgesses: Fifth Grade Social Studies
Convening in the Jamestown church in the summer of 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses was the first democratically elected legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere, establishing the foundation of American representative democracy.
The Seed of American Self-Government
When European monarchs ruled their realms in the seventeenth century, they exercised near-absolute authority, claiming the "divine right of kings" to govern without consulting ordinary citizens. However, in the infant English colony of Virginia, a revolutionary political experiment was born. On July 30, 1619, inside the wooden church at Jamestown, twenty-two elected representatives gathered to debate laws, levy taxes, and govern their community. This assembly, known as the House of Burgesses, established a monumental precedent: that free citizens possess the fundamental right to govern themselves through elected representatives.
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| THE EVOLUTION OF VIRGINIA GOVERNANCE |
| |
| 1607-1609: CORPORATE DICTATORSHIP (Virginia Company) |
| - Ruled by a resident council and severe military governors. |
| | |
| v |
| 1610-1618: MARTIAL LAW (Dale's Code) |
| - Draconian military rules; death penalty for stealing food or running.|
| | |
| v |
| 1618: THE "GREAT CHARTER" (Sir Edwin Sandys) |
| - Abolished martial law; granted land (Headright System); ordered an |
| assembly of citizens to make local laws. |
| | |
| v |
| JULY 30, 1619: FIRST HOUSE OF BURGESSES MEETS |
| - 22 elected burgesses assemble in the Jamestown church choir. |
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The Great Charter and the End of Military Rule
For its first decade, Virginia was ruled with an iron fist. Governor Thomas Dale enforced "Dale's Code"—a brutal set of martial laws where skipping church services three times resulted in execution, and speaking against company policy resulted in having a bodkin needle driven through the tongue. Not surprisingly, ordinary English citizens refused to move to a colony that felt like a military prison.
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| THE REFORMS OF SIR EDWIN SANDYS (1618) |
| |
| 1. THE HEADRIGHT SYSTEM: Every colonist who paid their own way to |
| Virginia received 50 acres of land, plus 50 more acres for every |
| servant or family member they brought, creating private property! |
| 2. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Replaced military decrees with English common |
| law and authorized the creation of a bicameral legislature where |
| settlers elected their own representatives to write local statutes. |
| 3. IMMIGRATION BOOM: The promise of free farmland and democratic self- |
| rule sparked an immediate wave of thousands of eager immigrants. |
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The First Meeting: July 30, 1619
On a sweltering Friday morning in July 1619, the General Assembly of Virginia met for the first time inside the timber choir of the Jamestown church.
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| THE BICAMERAL STRUCTURE OF 1619 |
| |
| [ THE GOVERNOR ] |
| - Appointed by Virginia Company (Sir George Yeardley). |
| - Held supreme executive veto power over all legislation. |
| |
| [ THE GOVERNOR'S COUNCIL ] |
| - Six elite prominent advisors appointed by the company. |
| - Acted as the Upper House of the legislature. |
| |
| [ THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES ] |
| - The Lower House; 22 elected "burgesses" (two male representatives|
| elected from each of the colony's 11 settlements and boroughs). |
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Who Was a "Burgess"?
The word "burgess" came from the English word borough, meaning a municipal town or district. A burgess was an elected representative sent to speak on behalf of his local community. To vote for a burgess in 1619, an individual had to be a free male property owner over the age of seventeen; women, indentured servants, and Native Americans were excluded from voting.
What Laws Did the First Burgesses Pass?
During their six-day summer session (which was cut short because several burgesses fell sick with malaria in the sweltering church), the assembly passed practical laws reflecting the frontier realities of Virginia:
- Tobacco Quality Standards: Banned the sale of rotten or substandard tobacco to protect the reputation of Virginia's cash crop in London.
- Price Controls: Fixed the trading price of tobacco at three shillings per pound for the highest quality.
- Mandatory Church Attendance: Fined colonists who skipped Sunday church services.
- Protection of Native Trade: Forbade colonists from cheating Indigenous traders or selling firearms to native warriors.
- Community Morality: Enacted penalties for public drunkenness, gambling, and swearing.
The Right of Taxation and King Charles I (1624)
In 1624, King James I revoked the bankrupt Virginia Company's charter, transforming Virginia into a Royal Colony under direct crown control. Many colonists feared the King would abolish their elected assembly.
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| DEFENDING THE POWER OF THE PURSE |
| |
| 1. ATTEMPTED CROWN CONTROL: King Charles I appointed a royal governor |
| and attempted to rule Virginia by royal proclamations. |
| 2. BURGESS RESISTANCE: The Burgesses refused to surrender their rights,|
| insisting on the English constitutional principle that only elected |
| representatives could levy taxes on citizens ("Power of the Purse").|
| 3. ROYAL RECOGNITION (1639): Needing tobacco tax revenues, King Charles|
| formally recognized the House of Burgesses as a permanent, lawful |
| institution of Virginia governance! |
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The Training Ground for Founding Fathers
Over the next 150 years, the Virginia House of Burgesses expanded, moving from Jamestown to the brick Capitol building in Williamsburg in 1699. It served as the premier training ground for the generation of revolutionary statesmen who founded the United States of America.
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| LEGENDARY BURGESSES OF VIRGINIA |
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| Burgess Statesman | Contribution to American Liberty |
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| George Washington | Served 15 years as Burgess from Fairfax County; |
| | mastered legislative procedure and committee work |
| Thomas Jefferson | Drafted legislative resolutions; refined concepts |
| | of natural rights and religious freedom |
| Patrick Henry | Stunned the House with fiery oratory in 1765: |
| | "If this be treason, make the most of it!" |
| George Mason | Drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), |
| | the direct philosophical model for the U.S. Bill of|
| | Rights in the United States Constitution |
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Exercises and Solutions
Exercise 1: Explaining the "Power of the Purse" in Colonial Governance. In British colonial America, the royal governor was appointed by the King, but the House of Burgesses held the "power of the purse." Explain what the power of the purse meant in practical political terms, and analyze how this fiscal authority allowed elected colonial burgesses to check the executive power of royal governors.
Solution 1: The "power of the purse" was the exclusive constitutional authority of the elected legislative assembly to initiate, debate, and pass all laws concerning taxation and government spending. In the royal colony of Virginia, this power created an essential check and balance against the appointed executive branch. The royal governor arrived in Williamsburg with sweeping legal authority granted by the British King, including the power to command the military, veto legislation, and dissolve the assembly. However, the King did not provide the royal governor with an independent royal salary. Under Virginia law, the royal governor's salary, the operating budget for the courts, and the funding for military garrisons could only be paid through taxes levied by the House of Burgesses. If a royal governor attempted to rule as an arrogant tyrant, ignored colonial petitions, or tried to enforce unpopular crown decrees, the House of Burgesses exercised its power of the purse by simply refusing to vote for taxes or delaying the governor's annual salary appropriation. Faced with having his personal income cut off, the royal governor was forced to compromise with the elected burgesses, ensuring that local colonial interests prevailed over royal dictates.
Exercise 2: Comparing the House of Burgesses to Modern Representative Democracy. Describe the structural similarities and differences between the 1619 Virginia House of Burgesses and the modern United States House of Representatives, identifying at least one institutional similarity and two major differences regarding voting eligibility and representation.
Solution 2: The 1619 Virginia House of Burgesses and the modern United States House of Representatives share foundational structural similarities but differ radically in voting franchise and inclusivity. Structurally, both bodies operate on the principle of representative democracy: citizens in defined geographic districts (eleven boroughs in 1619; 435 congressional districts today) elect representatives to gather in a legislative hall, debate public policy, and pass binding statutory laws by majority vote. Both bodies function as the lower house of a bicameral legislature holding primary control over tax legislation. However, they differ profoundly regarding who is represented and who can vote. In 1619 Virginia, voting rights were strictly limited to free, white, property-owning men over the age of seventeen; women were entirely disenfranchised and could not vote or hold office; indentured servants were legally barred from the polls; and Native Americans and enslaved Africans possessed zero legal standing or civil rights. In contrast, modern representative democracy under the United States Constitution is rooted in universal adult suffrage: following the 14th, 15th, 19th, and 26th Constitutional Amendments, all American citizens aged eighteen and older—regardless of gender, race, property ownership, or wealth—have the constitutional right to vote and run for election to the House of Representatives.