Ursula    Frampton, age 16, of Mesa, Ariz., for her question:

FOR HOW LONG WAS THERE A HOUSE OF BURGESSES?

House of Burgesses was the first representative legislative body in America and the first in any English colony. It first met in Jamestown, then the capital of Virginia, on July 30, 1619. It was finally dissolved after 155 years in 1774.

The first session included two citizens, or burgesses, from each of the 11 boroughs or subdivisions of Virginia.

In 1621, the House received the authority to make all legislation, but the governor and his council had the right of veto. The House conformed to English law and used the same procedure as the English Parliament.

After the death of King James I in 1625, the English government became very occupied with its internal affairs. England neither approved nor disapproved of the House. From then on, the House managed the affairs of the colony.

When the House was dissolved, its members met in the first revolutionary convention of Virginia. There they elected delegates to the First Continental Congress. Some of the burgesses became leaders of the Revolutionary War.