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House of Burgesses

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Any time you start a venture or organize a group, you have to institute some rules.

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Otherwise, your brand spanking new treehouse can quickly devolve into a treehouse of horrors.

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It goes without saying -- but we'll say it anyway --

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that if you're going to start your own country...

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... you're going to want to have rules up the wazoo.

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And you're going to need a governing body to enforce and uphold those rules.

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Because not too many nations have had success with the "free-for-all" approach.

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Once American colonists realized they'd need one of those government thing-a-ma-bobs...

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... the House of Burgesses was formed.

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It was established by a company called The Virginia Company...

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...that had previously been involved with establishing settlements in the New World.

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These guys had their hands in everything.

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The Virginia Company also came up with the "headright" system,

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which was not an early GPS prototype.

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The headright system offered those considering a move to the New World

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50 acres of land if they took the leap.

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Way to wave that carrot in front of their noses.

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Most of the funding for the House of Burgesses

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came from wealthy capitalists...

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...who hoped to double their net worth by investing in New World settlements and goods.

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The burgess was the name given to the elected representatives from each town...

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...but those representatives were usually members of the gentry --

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-- the wealthy investors who had a ton of influence.

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For the most part, the towns were comprised of lower-class farmers....

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...although some of their co-workers were even lower-class.

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The House adapted a form of government called English Common Law...

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... in which representatives were chosen from the large settlements or plantations.

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The House of Burgesses was the first government system of its kind in North America...

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... if you don't count the Indians.

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Why not? No one else did.

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Anyway, the three parties that met to decide all things important were the Governor --

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who was crown appointed, the Councilmen, and the Burgess.

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You could only vote if you were a white male over the age of 17.

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But we're sure that law was totally arbitrary. They probably spun a wheel or something.

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So the colonists' new system was certainly different from back in merry old England,

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but it wasn't actually that different.

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Yeah, England had the whole royalty thing going,

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but their government was actually separate from the constitutional monarchy.

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The early American government's ideals were

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reflected in the formation of its founding documents.

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The House didn't last long though.

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It supported rebellion against the Monarchy back in the mother land;

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Even with their own government, the colonists were still living in what was technically

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a colony of England... ...and for some reason, England wasn't too

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keen on all the "uprising" talk.

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The House of Burgesses may have died, but its famous alumni lived on...

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...among them are many of our founding fathers.

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Sadly, most of them are no longer around to attend the reunion.

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