INTRODUCTION
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION
THE COUNCIL OR UPPER HOUSE

At the session of the General Assembly held from October 2 to November
30, 1771, Benedict Calvert, Daniel and Walter Dulany, George Steuart, Daniel
of St. Thomas Jenifer and George Plater were present at the opening day
(p. 3). John Beale Bordley came to the meeting held on October 7 and Colonel
Charles Hammond appeared on the following day (p. 8). On October 14
William Fitzhugh put in his appearance (p. 9). William Hay ward came to
the session held on October 24 and John Ridout to the one held on November i
(pp. 15, 19). All of these men, with the exception of Daniel of St. Thomas
Jenifer and George Plater, who had only recently been made members of the
Council, had been present at the sessions of the Assembly held during the fall
of 1770. Jenifer and Plater were sworn in as members of his Lordship's
Council on September 23, 1771 (Maryland Gazette, Sept. 26, 1771). Richard
Lee, the other member of the Council, did not appear at the meeting held during
October and November of 1771.

Lee, however, was present at the session of the General Assembly held in
June and July of 1773 (p. 318), as were all the other men who had attended
the meeting during the fall of 1771, with the exception of Charles Hammond,
who had died on September 13, 1772 (Arch. Md. LXII, xv). Henry Harford,
the new Lord Proprietary, under whose regime the Assembly of June-July,
1773, m^et made no changes in the personnel of these high officials. Robert
Eden, who had served as Governor under Frederick Calvert, the former Pro-
prietary, was retained in office (pp. 310, 335; Appendix I), as were all the
members of the Council or Upper House.

THE LOWER HOUSE

The meeting of the General Assembly which convened on October 2, 1771,
was the first session the Assembly whose members of the Lower House, or
Delegates, had been elected in January, 1771. The results of this election appear
in the Maryland Gazette for Jan. 17, 24, 31, Feb. 7, 1771.

At the meeting of the Lower House on October 5, 1771, the Committee of
Elections and Privileges submitted their report in which they stated that having
inspected the writs directed to the Sheriffs of the different counties for electing
Delegates to serve in this General Assembly and in the returns of the said writs
found that Messrs. John Reeder, Jr., Thomas Key, William Thomas, and
Jeremiah Jordan, Delegates of St. Mary's County, were duly returned (p. 88).
All of these men were present at the opening of the session on October 2, 1771,