CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Virginia's General Assembly first met in July–August 1619. At that time twenty-two burgesses representing eleven settlements assembled in Jamestown with the royal governor and his councilors, or advisors. They approved legislation related to tobacco prices, servant contracts, and other issues of concern to the colonists. The Assembly was unicameral (a single legislative house) until 1643, when Governor Sir William Berkeley authorized the burgesses to sit as a separate house, thus creating the House of Burgesses and a bicameral legislative body (with the councilors and the governor forming the other house). The burgesses were all white men and most were wealthy landowners, even though they represented small land owners and tenant farmers who were not of the gentry class.
In 1774, many members of the House of Burgesses supported the growing movement for independence from Great Britain. The royal governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the House of Burgesses. The burgesses reassembled on their own. They would go on to form the first of five Virginia Conventions which would eventually lead to the First Continental Congress and the creation of an army to support the patriot cause.
The House of Burgesses met for the last time on May 6, 1776, as recorded on this final page of the official journal. The three items show that a majority of eligible members did not attend the sessions of October 1775 and March 1776, which meant that the seated members adjourned and set a future meeting date as according to parliamentary law. On May 6, the burgesses met and "determined not to adjourn, but let that body die," as recorded by one of the members. The assistant clerk of the House of Burgesses recorded these last entries. His concluding Latin word, Finis, means finished, or the end.
On June 29, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention adopted a new constitution, which established the General Assembly with an elected Senate and elected House of Delegates. The House of Burgesses is recognized not only for having been the first elected representative government in colonial Virginia, but as the place where some of the most notable names of the American Revolution, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee, began their political careers.
Citation: Final Meeting of the House of Burgesses (“Finis Document”), May 6, 1776. Virginia House of Burgesses, Journal, May 6, 1776, Bound manuscript, Colonial Government, House of Burgesses, Record Group 1, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Standards
Suggested Questions
Preview Activities
Scan it: Scan the document. What phrases or words stand out? Why do you think they were written this way?
Post Activities
Analyze: Why do you think that the legislators chose to end the House of Burgesses by not setting another meeting date and not formally adjourning?
Social Media Spin: Create a social media post to explain the "Finis" document and its importance in 1776.
Virginia Validation: The General Assembly of Virginia was the first democratically elected legislative body of its kind in English North America. How did its bicameral design influence other states, the formation of Congress, and other governments around the world?