AUGUST 2011
For the local community and visitors to Williamsburg, Virginia
Photos by Bob Ruegsegger
Jamestown Memorial Church was built in 1907 over the foundations of the 1617 and 1639 churches.
First legislative assembly convened at Jamestown in 1619 By Bob Ruegsegger
F
or Virginians the legacy of elected representatives in government has its roots at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World and the early capital of the colony of Virginia. The decision of the Virginia Company, the joint stock corporation chartered to establish a settlement in Virginia by King James I in 1606, to afford elected Virginia colonists a limited authority to contribute to the laws governing Virginia was not a gesture generated by social magnanimity or democratic idealism. The pragmatic gesture was a calculated move to nurture capitalism in the struggling colony. Sir Edwin Sandys, the treasurer of the Virginia Company, and his associates in London fashioned a formal plan called The Great Charter of the Virginia to advance the settlement and stimulate prosperity within the colony through instituting significant management reform in Virginia. In addition to addressing the abundant grievances originating in the colony, their plan was to enhance the repute of the colony in England, encourage emigration to Virginia, and secure the allegiance of the planters. When Governor-General Sir George Yeardley arrived at Jamestown in April of 1619, he immediately offered a proclamation declaring that those who had lived in Virginia before the departure of Governor Sir Thomas Dale in 1616 were free from forced public service and labor. Yeardley announced in addition that martial law had been replaced by English common law and that a General Assembly would be established in
An appointed Counsel of State aided the govenor during the assembly
Virginia to “make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders” that they thought would be “good and profittable” for the subsistence of the colony. This assembly would meet annually and would consist of the governor, governor's council, and two burgesses freely elected by the inhabitants from each of the established plantations. Until the first General Assembly convened on Friday, July 30 through Wednesday, August 4, 1619 in the choir of the church at Jamestown, the reins of government remained firmly in the hands of the Council of State , Governor Yeardley and the appointed members of the Governor's Council. Governor Yeardley presided over that initial assembly for six grueling days in the oppressive heat of a scorching Virginia summer. His appointed Council of State Samuel Maycock, John Rolfe, Captain Francis West, Captain Nathaniel Powell, Reverend William Wickham sat next to him “on both hands.” John Pory, secretary and speaker, and John Twine, the clerk of the General Assembly sat before the governor. Sergeant-at-Arms Thomas Peirse stood ready at the choir bar. Continued on page 3
This church tower has the distinction of being the only surviving 17th century structure at Historic Jamestown.