the governor, the secretary, persons sum-
moned by special writs, and ten bur-
gesses, so that only two of the burgesses
could have voted in favor of the bill.
It was determined that those present
formed a house, that all present whether
by special writ or as burgesses had a
voice, and "that the major part of such
voices present and such as they were to
be Proxies for was to be judged the vote
of the house."21
As has been noted several times, when
a call went out for a session of the
assembly, not only were there general
writs for the election of burgesses from
the hundreds, but also there were spe-
cial writs calling for the attendance of
named individuals. As long as the gov-
ernor could issue such personal writs he
was in a position to name a controlling
majority in the assembly. Consequently,
Robert Vaughan, the same gentleman
initially refused a seat at the start of
the session, requested in the name of all
the burgesses that the assembly be split
into two chambers composed of those
personally summoned and of the bur-
gesses, the burgesses to have a negative
over the actions of the chamber com-
posed of those individuals personally
summoned.22 The lieutenant governor
refused.
Although the writs to the freemen for
the July, 1642, session, provided only
for their representation through elected
burgesses, the writs for a session in Sep-
tember of that same year called for the
freemen to be at the assembly "either by
themselves or their Deputies or Dele-
gates."23 Many appeared by proxy.
A session of the assembly was called
for 1646, but no summons went out to
21 1 archives 141.
22 1 archives 130.
23 1 archives 167.
134
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the freemen requiring their appearance
either in person or by proxy. The rec-
ords for the session, held at St. Inigoe's,
bear the heading "In the upper howse
[sic]"24 Since the freemen were not
summoned, this amounted to an ad hoc
division of the assembly into upper and
lower bodies. The reference to the
"upper howse" is the first men-
tion of an actual division of the assem-
bly into two chambers.
The call for the session in 1647 re-
quired that the inhabitants of the prov-
ince should attend in person, by proxy,
or by delegates. When the session con-
vened the freemen jointly and unani-
mously protested against all laws en-
acted at the previous St. Inigoe's session
on the grounds of that session's unlaw-
fulness "for want of due Summoning
the freemen of the Province by a lawful
authority."25 The lieutenant governor
overruled the protest, declaring the 1646
assembly and all of its acts valid, even
though apparently passed only by the
"upper howse."
A measure passed by the 1647 session
listed the freemen present and their
proxies and provided that acts passed
by "the said freemen or the major part
of them" and enacted by the governor
would become law. There was no men-
tion of an upper house.26
The 1650 session of the assembly
proved a milestone in several respects.
The call for the assembly was unusually
complex. In addition to the customary
special writs summoning designated in-
dividuals, the freemen were required to
attend in person, by proxies, or by dele-
gates. No freeman was to have over two
proxies in addition to his own vote.
24 1 archives 209.
25 1 archives 221.
26 1 archives 215.
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