House of Birgesses

[Keith Broaders]

In 1619 the 11 settlements in Virgina created the House of Burgesses to govern the Colony of Virginia.

The House of Burgesseswas initially a Unicameral Legislature with 22 men representing the best iinterests of the 11 permanent settlements in Virginia, The delegates represented the entire community and not the will of individuals or political factions.

The 1776 Constitution of Virginia replaced the House of Burgesses and established a Bicameral Legislature witha senate consisting of 64 counties divided into 24  districts .

The House of Delegates 

In 1776, the Virginia House of Delegates did not use a "district" system for electing its members; instead, representation was based on existing political divisions. The House consisted of two representatives from each of the 64 counties, plus representatives from the District of West Augusta, the city of Williamsburg, and the borough of Norfolkk.  

When communities are divided on issues political factions create majorities and minority factions.

. In democracies the majority wins and the minoity loses.

James Madison stated that the Constitution was written to prevent the majority from harming a minority.

James Madison's believed that the Constitutiion was written to prevent a  majority from harming a minority.

The Constitution was not written by the people, it was written by and ratified by the states.

The Congress of the united States was established to be a Bicameral Legislature with one House representing the people and a secomd House representing the states.

At the state level  the Bicameral legislative model was adopted by all of the staes except the state of Nebraska. This was done to protect the smaller rural counties from the tyranny of the majority in the voters in the larger metropolitcan counties.

If both House and the Senate at the state and Federal level only represented the people in thee large states the will of the majority would crush the minority.

The Senate was needed to prevent the tyranny of the majority. 

The purpose of having a bicameral legislature was to prevent a large body of uneducated voters from enacting laws that would benefit some of the people at the expemse of others..

With the ratification of the 17th Amendment our bicameral legislature was converted dinto a unicameral legislature with two chambers representing the same constituency.

The representatives of the states who wrote the Constitution delegated to Congress a short list of powers  and promised in Article V that the states would never lose the right to be equally represented in the Senate without their consent.. 

That is exactly what happemed in 1913 when Cogress proposed the 17th Amendment, which essentially turned our bicameral legislature  into a unicameral legislature.

According to the provisions found in Article 5 Congress was prohibited from taking the states right to be equally represented in the senatewithout their consent.

The following states have never given their consent by ratifying the 17th Amendmen. should challenge the Constitutionality of the 17th Amendment and should refuse to comply with an amendment that violates the Constitution.

Utah, Florida ,Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky,  South Carolina and Virginia

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[Keith Broaders]

There were approximately 60 to 65 counties in Virginia in 1776. During the early years of the American Revolution, the colony/commonwealth was rapidly dividing its western, larger counties (such as Fincastle and Dunmore in 1772) into smaller ones to accommodate growing populations. 

[Keith Broaders]

In 1790, the 24 members of the Virginia Senate were chosen through a system of popular election based on specifically defined districts, rather than by the state legislature. The 1776 Virginia Constitution established this, creating 24 senatorial districts across the state, with senators elected by qualified voters within those districts.