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The House of Burgesses (/ ˈ b ɜːr dʒ ə s ɪ z /) was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States when Virginia was a British colony .
This is a list of members of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1619 to 1775 from the references listed at the end of the article. The members of the first assembly in 1619, the members of the last assembly in 1775 and the Speakers of the House are designated by footnotes.
The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 (formally entitled An act concerning Servants and Slaves), were a series of laws enacted by the Colony of Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1705 regulating the interactions between slaves and citizens of the crown colony of Virginia.
The House of Burgesses was called back by the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore one last time in June 1775 to address British Prime Minister Lord North's Conciliatory Resolution. Randolph, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, returned to Williamsburg to take his place as Speaker.
It was initially a unicameral body composed of the Company-appointed Governor and Council of State, plus 22 burgesses elected by the settlements and Jamestown. [7] The Assembly became bicameral in 1642 upon the formation of the House of Burgesses. The Assembly had a judicial function of hearing cases both original and appellate. [8]
House of Burgesses chamber inside the Capitol building at Colonial Williamsburg. The lower house of a colonial legislature was a representative assembly. These assemblies were called by different names. Virginia had a House of Burgesses, Massachusetts had a House of Deputies, and South Carolina had a Commons House of Assembly.
Key's successful lawsuit was based upon the circumstances of her birth: her English father was a member of the House of Burgesses; had acknowledged his paternity of Elizabeth, who was baptized as a Christian in the Church of England; and, before his death, had arranged a guardianship for her, by way of indentured servitude until she came of age.
Colonel John Chiswell (occasionally spelled in the era, Chizzell, per its pronunciation) (ca. 1710 – October 14, 1766), was a planter, land speculator, early industrialist and member of the Colonial House of Burgesses who in his final years caused a scandal which led to his well-publicized death, possibly a suicide on the eve of his trial for killing a merchant in western Virginia.