The Virginians now were heartily tired of despots, and thought
that it was time that they had some say in the matter of governing
themselves. At the head of the company at home there was at this
time a wise man named Sandys. He also thought that it would be best
for the colony to be self-governing.
And so on July 30th, 1619, the first General Election was held in
Virginia, and the first Parliament of Englishmen in America met.
There were by this time about two thousand people living in the
colony, and the settlements were scattered about on both sides
of the river for sixty miles or so above Jamestown. So the colony
was divided into eleven parts or constituencies, each constituency
sending two members to the little parliament. These members
were called burgesses, and the parliament was called the House of
Burgesses. But there was no special building in which the burgesses
could gather, so the meetings were held in the little wooden church
at Jamestown. And thus with such small beginnings were the first
foundations of a free and independent nation laid. And because of
the founding of this House of Burgesses 1619 stands out as the year
most to be remembered in all the early days of Virginia.
But 1619 has to be remembered for another, and this time a sad reason:
for it saw not only the beginnings of freedom, but the beginnings
of slavery.
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