Alternatively, the freemen of any hun-
dred could chose [sic] burgesses if a
majority of the freemen in the hundred so
agreed.27 If burgesses were used, St.
Clement's and St. Mary's were to be
allowed one each; St. George's, St.
Inigoe's, and St. Michael's one or two
each; and Newtowne two or three. The
freemen of St. Mary's petitioned the
governor to be allowed to choose two
burgesses, alleging that St. Mary's was
the most ancient hundred and the first
seated in the province under his Lord-
ship's government. The petition was
granted.28
An act unanimously passed by the ses-
sion and signed by the governor divided
the assembly into upper and lower
houses, the upper house being composed
of the governor, the secretary, and one
or more of the Governor's Council and
the lower house being composed of any
five or more burgesses, individually
named in the act.29
Until 1654 the unit of representation
for burgesses was the hundred. In 1654
the proprietary government was replaced
by Puritan Commissioners who changed
the unit of representation to the county,
where it has remained ever since. The
assembly also reverted to a unicameral
body for that session and for the suc-
ceeding session in 1657, returning again
to a bicameral body with the restora-
tion of proprietary government in 1658.
It is well to recapitulate at this point
the practices that had become estab-
lished. The hardships imposed by com-
pulsory attendance of all freemen, either
in person or by proxy, at assembly ses-
sions had been relieved by allowing
attendance through delegates or elected
27 1 archives 259.
28 1 archives 260.
29 1 archives 272.
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burgesses, as specified in the writs for
the individual sessions. The assembly
had become bicameral. In the Upper
House the members were summoned by
special writ and represented no geo-
graphical or political unit. In the
Lower House the unit of representation
was the county. The number of repre-
sentatives per county had not become
settled. Indeed, in the 1661 session the
Lower House asked for an explanation
of how the elections were conducted,
saying it did not understand the proce-
dure. The Upper House — acting in its
executive role as governor and council
rather than in its legislative role — ex-
plained that the decision as to the num-
ber of delegates for each county was left
to the discretion of the sheriff of each
county. The sheriff proclaimed the elec-
tion of burgesses and the number to be
elected. He could prevent electors from
voting or elected burgesses from serv-
ing.30
By exercise of these powers to return
large numbers of burgesses from coun-
ties favoring the administration it was
possible to control the actions of the
Lower House. The Lower House made
an attempt in the 1661 session to end
this possibility. A law enacted in that
session gave to the electors of each
county the right to decide the number
of burgesses to be elected to represent
them. Being summoned to the actual
legislative session is now regarded as the
inevitable result of being elected as a
representative. Logically, however, the
two are discrete and separable events.
The governor countered the electors'
control over the number of delegates by
beginning the practice of summoning
only part of those elected. For example,
in the 1776 session the Lower House
inquired why all the delegates were not
30 riley, supra note 8, at 32.
135
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