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Description:
Formed by the Virginia Company, the House of Burgesses was formed to govern the colonies. Over the years, it transformed into the government we have today. Aw, growth.
Transcript
- 00:07
House of Burgesses
- 00:09
Any time you start a venture or organize a group, you have to institute some rules.
- 00:18
Otherwise, your brand spanking new treehouse can quickly devolve into a treehouse of horrors.
- 00:30
It goes without saying -- but we'll say it anyway --
- 00:35
that if you're going to start your own country...
Full Transcript
- 00:37
... you're going to want to have rules up the wazoo.
- 00:41
And you're going to need a governing body to enforce and uphold those rules.
- 00:47
Because not too many nations have had success with the "free-for-all" approach.
- 00:53
Once American colonists realized they'd need one of those government thing-a-ma-bobs...
- 00:59
... the House of Burgesses was formed.
- 01:03
It was established by a company called The Virginia Company...
- 01:05
...that had previously been involved with establishing settlements in the New World.
- 01:12
These guys had their hands in everything.
- 01:16
The Virginia Company also came up with the "headright" system,
- 01:20
which was not an early GPS prototype.
- 01:24
The headright system offered those considering a move to the New World
- 01:27
50 acres of land if they took the leap.
- 01:31
Way to wave that carrot in front of their noses.
- 01:35
Most of the funding for the House of Burgesses
- 01:37
came from wealthy capitalists...
- 01:39
...who hoped to double their net worth by investing in New World settlements and goods.
- 01:47
The burgess was the name given to the elected representatives from each town...
- 01:52
...but those representatives were usually members of the gentry --
- 01:57
-- the wealthy investors who had a ton of influence.
- 02:03
For the most part, the towns were comprised of lower-class farmers....
- 02:08
...although some of their co-workers were even lower-class.
- 02:16
The House adapted a form of government called English Common Law...
- 02:20
... in which representatives were chosen from the large settlements or plantations.
- 02:27
The House of Burgesses was the first government system of its kind in North America...
- 02:33
... if you don't count the Indians.
- 02:35
Why not? No one else did.
- 02:38
Anyway, the three parties that met to decide all things important were the Governor --
- 02:43
who was crown appointed, the Councilmen, and the Burgess.
- 02:50
You could only vote if you were a white male over the age of 17.
- 02:54
But we're sure that law was totally arbitrary. They probably spun a wheel or something.
- 03:02
So the colonists' new system was certainly different from back in merry old England,
- 03:07
but it wasn't actually that different.
- 03:09
Yeah, England had the whole royalty thing going,
- 03:12
but their government was actually separate from the constitutional monarchy.
- 03:23
The early American government's ideals were
- 03:25
reflected in the formation of its founding documents.
- 03:28
The House didn't last long though.
- 03:32
It supported rebellion against the Monarchy back in the mother land;
- 03:42
Even with their own government, the colonists were still living in what was technically
- 03:45
a colony of England... ...and for some reason, England wasn't too
- 03:49
keen on all the "uprising" talk.
- 03:55
The House of Burgesses may have died, but its famous alumni lived on...
- 04:00
...among them are many of our founding fathers.
- 04:05
Sadly, most of them are no longer around to attend the reunion.
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