House of Burgesses

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 Jamestown on July 30, 1619. It included the governor himself and a council—all appointed by the colonial proprietor (the Virginia Company)—along with two elected burgesses (delegates) from each of the colony’s 11 settlements. The assembly met in...