The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-06-09

Elizabeth in 1900, and was to have a
governor, deputy governor, and a COM
or council of twenty-four per-
sons. The charter named the first gov
ernor. The subsequent governor and
all other officers were to be chosen in a
general court or assembly of the whole
company. Each member wasrequired
to take an oath Ito traffic as a freeman
of the company" The governor, or in
his stead the deputy governor, was
required to preside yer the general
assembly, which consisted of the gov
ernOr, the council, and the members of
the corporation sitting as n body.
This assembly was authorized to
make all reasonable laws, constitutions,
ETC., agreeable to the laws of England,
for their good government, by a
plurality of voices" and also to
punish by fines and Imprisonment the
offenders against these laws The
company was, in short, a body-politic,
democratic in it's organization, xer-
cising it's functions through a COVER
nor, a council, and an assembly of all
the members of the corporation.
In 1906, James I. granted the first
charter of Virginia; which, with it's
subsequent notifications may be
called the beginning of the constitu-
tional history Of the United States. 1t
divided the whole American coast into
two parts, the southern part being con
ferred upon the First, or London Com
pany, and the northern part upon the
Second, or Plymouth Company. This
original grant contained no democratic
features, the government being con
fined to a council appointed by the
King. A second, and more liberal
charter was granted by the King, in
1909; and in 1912 a third charter was
granted, containing essentially all the
features of the East India Company,
and which erected the London Trading
Company into a body-politic, having
full authority to legislate, and to
establish a form of government for the
COlOly COLllOSu W 1OS care.
This charter possessed all the essen
tial elements of a written constitution.
1t established a form of government
and distributed executive, judicial, and
legislative functions. At first the col
onists themselves were not admitted
to a voice in the government; but,
upon their complaints, Governor
Yeardley was instructed to call a gen
eral assembly of the colonists that
they might share in legislation. The
colonists being scattered over a vast
territory of eleven plantations, a plan
was adopted whereby they should ap-
pear by deputies. All the freemen
shared in this first election of deputies,
and two burgesses were returned from
each plantation. Thus was constituted
at jamestown, in 1919, the first repre-
sentative assembly that ever met on
American soil.
In order to give definite and written
sanction to the political changes thus
introduced, the Landon Company
issued it's famous ordinance of 1921,
containing a clear definition of the
powers and branches of the colonial
government. ALI the essential features
of this constitution were reproduction
of the Constitution of the London
Company and of it's prototype, the
East Indian Company, namely: ID
The three elements Of government
the chief executive, the council, and
the assembly; G) the administrative
and judicial functions of the governor
and council; and () the legislative
functions of the governor, council, and
freemen united in a single body. The
only important notifications were the
introduction of deputies and the grant
ing of the veto power to the governor,
and these we're clearly the direct result
of the circumstances. The first was
due to convenience, and the second to.
the desire of the company to preserve
control over the legal acts of the.
colony. After mentioning the pro-
visions of this ordinance, Mr. Chalmers
Introduction to the History of the
american Colonies says:
THUS we trace to a commercial comnanv tbosa
free systems of provincial government that have
distinguished the English colonies above All
others for their regard for the rights of men
In this famous ordinance we behold the model
from which every provincial form was copied.
though varied by difference of circumstances.S
The political organization of every
colony was necessarily sanctioned by
written constitutions, deriving their
authority in the first instance from the
King and Parliament. It was only
through the Revolution that the
sovereign authority of the people be-