HOUSE OF BURGESSES • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of House of Burgesses

"House of burgesses" Quotes from Famous Books

... Assembly of Delaware tabled indefinitely a bill of 1785 for the gradual abolition of slavery, and Maryland in her declaration of rights adopted in 1776 restricted the enjoyment of certain rights to freemen only. A petition introduced in the House of Burgesses of Virginia in 1785, asking for general emancipation on the ground that slavery was contrary to the principles of religion and the ideas of freedom on which the government was founded, was read and rejected without an opposing voice; Washington ...

— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 • Various

... so trusted that, aside from his own affairs, other people gave him charge of theirs. He was often called upon to settle disputes, thus preventing law-suits. He was a member of the Virginia Legislature, then called the House of Burgesses, of which he attended every meeting and was careful to know all about the affairs of the colony. When he first took his seat in the Legislature, he was thanked for his military service to the colony. He rose to reply, but could only blush and stammer. The ...

— George Washington • Calista McCabe Courtenay

... new constitutions, but in most essential respects they took the old colonial charters for their model. The popular legislative body remained unchanged even in its name. In North Carolina its supreme dignity was vindicated in its title of the House of Commons; in Virginia it was called the House of Burgesses; in most of the states the House of Representatives. The members were chosen each year, except in South Carolina, where they served for two years. In the New England states they represented the townships, in other states the counties. In all ...

— The Critical Period of American History • John Fiske

... the proceedings of the Virginia House of Burgesses that led to the creation of Loudoun County in May, 1757. The act authorizing the division of Fairfax and establishment of ...

— History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia • James W. Head

... rights of man have been at stake, the all-animating voice of the orator has kept alive the sacred flame. In the witenagemote of the earlier tongs, in the parliament of the later kings, in the Massachusetts town-meeting and in the Virginia House of Burgesses, in the legislature of every State, and in the Congress of the United States, wherever in Anglo-Saxon countries the torch of liberty seemed to burn low, the breath of the orator has fanned it into flame. It fired the eloquence ...

— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various