JAMESTOWN — Jamestown Rediscovery is inviting visitors to Jamestown on July 26 to learn about the first General Assembly, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western hemisphere.
According to The Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, one hundred and fifty-seven years before the Declaration of Independence was signed, twenty-seven men gathered in the choir of Jamestown’s church “to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia” and to introduce “just laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting.”
The burgesses who participated in this General Assembly were chosen by the free, white male inhabitants of their town, corporation, or large plantation — a pivotal moment in the evolution of self-governance, according to the foundation. The seeds of representative government that were planted at Jamestown in 1619 would later inspire those who forged a new nation during and after the American Revolution, Jamestown Rediscovery adds.
Tour Schedule: Saturday, July 26
11 a.m. and 2 p.m. — First Assembly Walking Tour with Public Historian Mark Summers
Take a tour of the original site of James Fort to uncover the origins of representative government at Jamestown. Learn about the Virginia Company’s instructions to the colonists, its charters, early financial failures and squabbling leaders. See how the “Great Charter” of 1618 and the rise of tobacco as a cash crop changed the course of the colony, as the tour ends at the actual site of the First Assembly in 1619. The 2 p.m. tour will lead into the next program, the “Proceedings of the Virginia Assembly.”
2:30 – Proceedings of the Virginia Assembly
Calling all burgesses! The Assembly has gathered at Jamestown and your assistance is required to establish and discuss new laws for the colony. This interactive program will ask you what laws should be implemented for the “happy guiding and governing” of your community.
All day programs
- Living history in James Fort — Forged in Iron, The Powhatan Indians
- Hands-on Archaeology in the Ed Shed
All programs included with admission to the Preservation Virginia portion of Historic Jamestowne. More details at historicjamestowne.org.
