16thly.—That the comissioners for the parliament subscribing these articles engage themselves and the honour of the parliament for the full performance thereof: And that the present Governour and the Councill and the Burgesses do likewise subscribe and engage the whole collony on their parts.
35. The Franchise Restricted and Restored, 1655, 1656
Hening's Statutes at Large. Cf. American History and Government, § 103 and note.
(1) [March, 1654/5.]
Act VII.—Be it enacted by this present Grand Assembly ... That the persons who shall be elected to serve in Assembly shall be such and no other then such as are persons of knowne integrity and of good conversation and of the age of one and twenty yeares—That all housekeepers whether ffreeholders, lease holders, or otherwise tenants, shall onely be capeable to elect Burgesses, and none hereby made uncapable shall give his subscription to elect a Burgesse upon the pennalty of four hundred pounds of tobacco and cask, to be disposed of by the court of each county where such contempt shall be used: Provided that this word housekeepers repeated in this act extend no further than to one person in a ffamily.
(2) [March, 1655/6.]
Act XVI.—Whereas we conceive it something hard and unagreeable to reason that any persons shall pay equall taxes and yet have no votes in elections, Therefore it is enacted by this present Grand Assembly, That soe much of the act for chooseing Burgesses be repealed as excludes freemen from votes, Provided allwaies that they fairly give their votes by subscription and not in a tumultuous way,[25] ...