Cord Byrd: “on July 30, 1619, in the church at Jamestown, VA, the colonial Governor of Virginia, George Yeardley, called into…”

“on July 30, 1619, in the church at Jamestown, VA, the colonial Governor of Virginia, George Yeardley, called into session a meeting of twenty-two citizens called burgesses, from each of the eleven boroughs subdivisions, of colonial Virginia. According to one of the participants, Mr. John Pory, ``all the Burgesses took their places . . . till a prayer was said by Mr. Burke, the minister,'' who asked God to ``guide and sanctify'' the ``proceedings to his own glory.'' The Speaker then addressed the members of the assembly on their duties as participants. ``Our intent,'' wrote Mr. Pory, was ``to establish one equal and uniforme kinde of government over all Virginia.'' Thus began, 382 years ago this very day, the first representative, legislative body in American history, the Virginia House of Burgesses. I do find it ironic that today, when there is so much talk about separation of church and state, that the very first legislative assembly in American history took place in a church. It seems very fitting that the legislative foundations of the world's greatest power, and the world's foremost proponent of liberty and, I might add, religious freedom began in a church. What a momentous day July 30, 1619 was, not only in American history, but also in world history.…”