Give Me Liberty: The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia

by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker

The qualifications for the right to vote changed from time to time. On the whole they were liberal, for throughout the colonial period most freemen could voice their choice when the candidates for the House of Burgesses were presented. The constitution of 1621 stated that Burgesses were to be chosen by the "inhabitants." If this was interpreted to mean that all men, including indentured workers, enjoyed the franchise, it was later modified by a law restricting the right to vote to those who paid taxes. It is revealing of the high value placed on representative government even by the humblest, that when Governor Berkeley suggested that taxes be assessed, not by the poll, but only on landholders, the Burgesses protested that this would disfranchise great numbers of freemen who owned no land at all. "We are so well acquainted with the temper of the people that we have reason to believe they had rather pay their tax than lose their privilege."

Seven years later another attempt to restrict the suffrage was more successful. Probably at Berkeley's suggestion the Assembly passed a law that no man should vote unless he were a landholder or housekeeper. At this time poor men who were apt to "make tumults at the elections" were pouring in, and the Governor thought it the part of wisdom to deny them any participation in the government. In England only property owners could vote, he argued, why have a different practice in Virginia?

Unfortunately this happened at a time when the people were "ripe for rebellion," and it merely added to their resentment against the Governor and his puppet Assembly. It was in an effort to appease them that Berkeley called for a new election, in 1676, and, ignoring the law, took it on himself to extend the franchise to "every free born man." When this Assembly met, and when Bacon's army was marching on Jamestown, they confirmed this ruling by passing a law to give the right to vote to all freemen. But with the repeal of Bacon's Laws in 1677, the franchise was once more restricted to landowners and housekeepers.

When Culpeper was appointed Governor in 1679, he was ordered to make a vigorous assault upon liberty in the colony. Among other repressive measures he was instructed to deprive mere housekeepers of the suffrage and limit it to freeholders. Although this measure was unjust to the large and intelligent artisan class—carpenters, masons, coopers, house painters, shipwrights, saddlers, gunsmiths, etc., it seems to have remained in force throughout the remainder of the colonial period.

The wages of the Burgesses changed from time to time. At one time the pay was ten shillings a day, at another thirteen shillings, at still another 130 pounds of tobacco. In 1718 it was thirty shillings, a sum which Governor Spotswood thought far too much. His criticisms of the politicians of his day show that the species has not changed greatly in the past two and a half centuries. The salary "makes needy men try for the place who are not qualified for a Senate house," he said. "Those upon an approaching election set themselves to inventing most false and malicious stories.... The country to be sure is ever represented as if it was to be undone, and none can be judged capable of saving it but some of their own mobbish politicians, who engage to pursue the wild schemes of the electors."[20] But when he tried to cut the ground from under these false patriots by urging a law requiring the Burgesses to serve without salary, and restricting further the qualifications for voters and for candidates for office, it was overwhelmingly voted down.

It was customary for each county to pay the salaries of its two Burgesses. This was unjust, for it made the burden fall much more heavily upon the taxpayer in a small county than one in a large county. It was harmful, also, as implying that the Burgess was concerned with the interests of his county rather than those of the colony as a whole. So the people of the thinly settled counties rejoiced when, in the mid-eighteenth century the Burgesses were paid from the revenue from the duty on the imports of liquors whenever there was a surplus in this fund.

The Burgesses elected their own Speaker. This officer presided over the deliberations of the House, voiced their determinations, and issued warrants to execute their orders. In case of a tie he cast the deciding vote. The office was eagerly sought after, for it carried great influence. In 1699, when Robert Carter was elected, he said in his address of acceptance: "The House of Burgesses, consisting of the better sort of gentlemen from all parts of the country, to be in this fashion the object of their choice I take to be of no small reputation to me."[21]

The prestige of the office grew with the increasing power of the House, until the Speaker became, next to the Governor, the most influential man in the colony. It became a fixed custom for the Burgesses to enhance his pay by making him Treasurer. In 1758, when Governor Fauquier was instructed to separate the two offices, he was greatly perplexed. The Speaker, Mr. John Robinson, is "the most popular man in the country," he wrote the Lords of Trade, "beloved by the gentlemen and the idol of the people." Any slight to him would put a stop to all legislative business.[22]

With the growth of the House of Burgesses its business more and more was transacted by committees. The most important were the committees on Propositions and Grievances, Elections and Privileges, and on Proportioning the Levy. To the first of these came all manner of complaints. One county asks that ship captains be forbidden to throw ballast into the rivers, another wants a ceiling put on doctors' bills, still another objects to having taverns extend credit to sailors.

The House kept a close watch on elections, and the Committee on Elections and Privileges always went over the writs in search of irregularities. If a sheriff should fail to make a return or should make an imperfect return, the messenger was sent to bring him before the House to explain why. Should he take it upon himself to judge who was eligible or not eligible for election, he was certain to receive a stern reprimand. In 1692 a resolution "that the House of Burgesses are the sole and only judges of the capacity or incapacity of their own members" passed unanimously.[23]