THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407210475
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
MORE THAN A YEAR before the ancestors of the first Yankees arrived in Massachusetts on Nov. 19, 1620, the first representative assembly in British America convened from July 30 to Aug. 4, 1619, at Jamestown, England's first permanent Virginia-based threshold in the New World.
The date of the latter event, a milestone in the evolution of representative government in the United States, should be borne in mind. Even now some people who mistakenly believe that Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims landed, was the first British outpost in this country, even though Jamestown had been established 13 years before the sea-weary Mayflower passengers stepped ashore.
Virginia's first assembly of 20 ``burgesses,'' the predecessor of today's General Assembly, was convened at the instigation of the London Company, the group responsible for the initial settlement that was later referred to as the Cradle of the Republic. Until 1619 the colony had been subject to martial law. When this proved unsatisfactory, the London Company authorized a new form of government modeled after British political institutions.
The weather during that far-distant summer was hot and humid, and one delegate died during the meeting. But Virginia's first legislators put up a brave fight against the heat, flies and mosquitoes, and what they accomplished still makes interesting reading. Even so, to judge from the pious platitudes that have been written by many humorless Virginia historians, you would think the delegates were so interested in establishing a precedent that they had no time for run-of-the-mill human foibles.
Fortunately, a full account of what transpired was recorded by a witty Englishman named John Pory, the speaker of the assembly. And it is his account, now preserved in the Public Record Office in London, that enables us to glimpse the human side of the historic occasion.
After settling weightier legal problems, the delegates turned their attention to more mundane matters. First to come under consideration were idleness, gaming and drunkenness. In the case of an ``Idler or renegate,'' the assembly decreed that even though the offender was a freeman, he was to be turned over to a master to work for wages ``till he shewe apparent signes of ammendment.''
In cases of ``gaming at dice and Cards'' the winners were to lose all of their winnings, while the winners and losers were to forfeit 10 shillings each, one of which was to go to the snoop who informed on them, while the other nine were to be applied to ``charitable and pious uses.'' Concerning drunkards, the offenders were divided into two classes. If an ordinary colonist hit the bottle too often, he was first to be reproved privately by his minister. For a second offense he was to be publicly censured. If he still insisted on swigging the joy juice, he would be placed in irons in the provost's house and would pay a heavy fine.
Like all self-serving governing cliques, however, the burgesses included a clause that would let offending members of their privileged body off the hook. Bearing in mind that one of their number might face expulsion for topping too freely, the lawmakers decreed that the governor could reinstate any wayward legislative sot ``when he shall in his discretion think fitte.''
The really juicy case considered by America's first legislative assembly, however, involved the scandalous goings-on in the home of Capt. William Powell. That worthy was accused by a servant named Thomas Garnett of drunkenness and theft. But when the evidence was judged insufficient, Powell branded his accuser as a ``lewde and trecherous servante.''
Proving that Garnett had been carrying on with a widow, also in Powell's employ, the legislators decreed that Garnett ``should stand fower days with his eares nayled to the Pilory, viz: Wednesday, Aug. 4th, and so likewise Thursday, fryday, and Satturday next following, and every of those dayes should be publiquely whipped.'' by CNB