This is the second volume in a five-volume series. "This volume contains the Journals of the House of Burgesses for two Assemblies, the Assembly of 1742-1747 and that of 1748-49. The former of these Assemblies had five sessions; the latter only one, but a very long and busy one." The first session included the passage of laws laying duties on tobacco, slaves and liquors. Fairfax County was formed from Prince William County; Louisa County from Hanover; and a portion of King and Queen County was added to Caroline County. Three towns were established: Leeds, Suffolk, and Richmond. The third and fourth sessions dealt mostly with local bills of a specific nature, while the urgent business of the fifth session was the rebuilding or relocating of the recently burned capitol in Williamsburg. In the "very long and busy" single session of the Assembly of 1748-1749, masses of legislation were decided. This facsimile has been prepared from the same lovely, limited-edition set as the first volume. Its pages abound with the names of the burgesses and citizens who framed our earliest laws. These records were obtained from original archival manuscripts in the Library of Congress and the Virginia State Library. Where these manuscripts were incomplete, information was obtained from the collection of printed Journals belonging to the heirs of Mrs. C. W. Coleman of Williamsburg. The journals of all the sessions are cited in the Harvard Guide to American History. Like the first volume, the detailed index contains names, places, and subjects.
H. R. McIlwaine
(1909, 1995), 2012, 8.5" x 11", paper, index, 456 pp.
ISBN: 9780788401992
101-M9199
