Thus the people of Virginia were left to make a most interesting experiment in self-government. The House of Burgesses were elected on a broad franchise. Under the law of 1655 all housekeepers were given the right to vote.[42] Since it would seem that everyone must have a place in which to live, this was a near approach to manhood suffrage. Yet three years later these liberty loving people made certain that no one should be excluded, when the Assembly enacted that "all persons inhabiting in this colony that are freemen" were "to have their votes in the election of Burgesses."[43] One wonders whether Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and other members of the Virginia Convention of 1776, who voted that only freeholders should vote, realized that they were less advanced on the road to democracy than their ancestors over a century before.
The convention of 1652 gave the right to elect "all the officers of this colony" to "the Burgesses, the representatives of the people." However, it seems to have been Cromwell's intention to assume the power of appointing the Governor, for in December, 1653, his Highness "thought fit to continue Colonel Bennett" in that office until he should "further signify his pleasure."[44] But when he did nothing more about it, in March, 1655, the Burgesses elected Edward Digges Governor. Three years later, they chose Samuel Mathews, who continued in office until his death in January, 1660.
The Governor and Council for some years accepted with good grace the subordinate position accorded them. But in 1658 they made an effort to regain some of the powers they had held prior to the surrender to the Commonwealth. When the Assembly of that year were concluding their proceedings, they voted not to be dissolved, but merely to adjourn. But the Governor and Council "for many important causes" took it on themselves to override this decision and declare the Assembly dissolved.
When this message was received by the House, some of the members started for the door. But they probably sat down hastily when a resolution was passed that if any Burgess showed his acceptance of the dissolution by leaving, he was to be censured "as a person betraying the trust reposed in him by the country." They then sent a message to the Governor and Council declaring their action illegal and demanding that they revoke the dissolution. To this the Governor and Council replied that they were willing for the Assembly to continue provided they bring their work to a speedy conclusion. As for the "dispute of the power of dissolving and the legality thereof" they suggested that it be referred to the Lord Protector.[45]
But the House was now thoroughly aroused, and was determined to bring the matter to an issue. So they appointed a committee to draw up a report for the "manifestation and vindication of the Assembly's power." This committee proposed resolutions declaring the "power of government to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the representatives of the people) who are not dissolvable by any power now extant in Virginia but the House of Burgesses." They also recommended the immediate dismissal of the Councillors. Accordingly the House preceded to recall both Governor and Council. Apparently the Burgesses did not blame Governor Mathews for the crisis for they at once re-elected him, and then asked him to make recommendations for the new Council. It is probable that they thought Nathaniel Bacon and Francis Willis responsible for the attempted dissolution, for they were the only Councillors who had signed the offensive order who were not re-elected.[46]
When the Assembly met again, in March, 1659, a letter was laid before them from Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State in England, announcing the death of Cromwell and the accession of Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector. The government of Virginia was being studied by the Council, he reported, and they soon would have some positive orders. In the meanwhile, they directed the Governor and Council to apply themselves to the "management of the affairs of that colony."[47]
When this letter was read to the Burgesses, they must have looked at each other in dismay. Did this mean that the Governor and Council thereafter were to derive their powers, not from the House, but from England? They at once acknowledged the new Lord Protector, but they requested the Governor to join with them in petitioning him to confirm their privileges.
While waiting to hear from England they decided to make important concessions. Mathews was to be Governor for two years, at the expiration of which time the Assembly would choose one of the Councillors to succeed him. Members of the Council were to serve for life, "except in case of high misdemeanors." The Governor was to nominate Councillors, but the Burgesses were to have the privilege of confirming or rejecting. The Council at first assented to these changes until further directions from England, but later "they expressly declined the said act," and declared the Assembly dissolved.[48] It would seem that from March, 1659, to March, 1660, the Governor and Council claimed that they derived their authority, not from the Burgesses, but from the Council of State.
In the meanwhile, the people waited anxiously for news from England. Would the weak Richard Cromwell, Thumbledown Dick as he was called in contempt, gain a firm grasp on the reins of state? Or would there be anarchy? Or would Prince Charles be summoned from exile and placed on the throne of his fathers? When the tobacco fleet drifted in, the word they brought was alarming. Richard Cromwell had been forced to resign; England was subjected to the weak but violent rule of soldiers; a new civil war threatened. "Swordsmen bear the rule of the nation," a London merchant wrote his father in Virginia in December, 1659. "The soldiers they are divided one against another, and the people they are divided, some for one government some for another, and how long thus a kingdom divided against itself can stand, I know not."[49]
To make matters still more uncertain for the Virginians, in January, 1660, Governor Mathews died. When the summons was sent out for the Assembly to meet, the Burgesses straggled in to the little capital, some on horseback, some by boat. Little knots must have gathered on the green to discuss the distractions in the mother country, and their meaning for the future of Virginia.