The House of Burgesses (/ ˈbɜːrdʒəsɪz /) 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.

House of Burgesses, representative assembly in colonial Virginia, which was an outgrowth of the first elective governing body in a British overseas possession, the General Assembly of Virginia. The General Assembly was established by Gov. George Yeardley at …

Feb 1, 2025 · The Virginia House of Burgesses, established in 1619 in the Virginia Colony, was the first elected representative government in America. The members were known as “Burgesses” and were elected to represent the towns and plantations in the colony.

Aug 26, 2024 · The House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected representatives from Virginia that met from 1643 to 1776. This democratically elected legislative body was the first of its kind in English North America.

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 …

Feb 24, 2021 · The House of Burgesses (1619-1776 CE) was the first English representative government in North America, established in July 1619 CE, for the purpose of passing laws and maintaining order in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia and the other settlements that had grown up …

The colonists drew upon their claims to traditional English rights and insisted on raising their own representative assemblies. Such was the case with the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first popularly elected legislative body in the New World.

Feb 9, 2010 · In Jamestown, Virginia, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World—the House of Burgesses—convenes in the choir of the town’s church.

The House of Burgesses represented a groundbreaking legislative body in colonial Virginia that played a pivotal role in shaping early American democratic processes. Established in 1619, this representative assembly became the first legislative body in the British American colonies, setting a remarkable precedent for representative government.

With its origin in the first meeting of the Virginia General Assembly at Jamestown in July 1619, the House of Burgesses was the first democratically-elected legislative body in the British American colonies.