[ bells tolling ] good morning. I am kirk cox, speaker of the Virginia House of delegates. Im absolutely delighted to welcome everyone here at jamestown settlement in the recreated church in james fort and those viewing these proceedings online or watching from beyond for the 400th anniversary today. Of the first and oldest continuous Representative Legislature body in the western hemisphere is our forefathers did on this very day 400 years ago, we assembled right here at the birthplace of american democracy, jamestown. Freedom in the form of Representative Democracy began here in virginia. The unforgettable and inspiring event that happened here, what began here has changed not only virginia and not only america, but much of the entire world. Special occasions, the commemorations like this offer us an opportunity to pause and reflect on history of 1619. As a retired schoolteacher, i taught government for almost 30 years. I know the year 1619 was pivotal, as well as complicated. That year profoundly shaped the history of america. The year 1619 saw the beginning of the highs and lows of america which included noteworthy birth of democracy in the new world and our ongoing experiment in representative selfgovernment. But also the forced arrival of africans to english north america which tragically was the genesis of the evil that was slavery. Special occasions like this also challenge us to seek insights and learn lessons regarding how our american evolution has brought us here. For example, we know from keen observers that with those first steps, which English Speaking settlers took in this new land of virginia, and down the centuries this very day promise, hope and achievement have vied with difficulty, conflict and failure. Our virginia, our american journey, continues as does our noble work towards finding and forging together a more perfect union. An historic milestone and commemoration also can encourage us to not just look back upon our storied past but to look forward. To lift up our eyes and aspirations and to envision a better, brighter and more fair and just future as a people, as a commonwealth and as a nation. Virginias more deeply rooted in americas soil in history than any part of our country. Those of us honored by fellow citizens fortunate enough to be elected as delegates and senators in the virginia General Assembly are stewards of that great inheritance. And we are fortunate to be among the many keepers of the flame of american democracy that was first lit and began right here at jamestown virginia, 400 years ago. Back in 1619, elected representatives called burgesses from the original settlement areas for the very first time gathered as an assembly along with governor george yardley, council of leaders that included john porry who was chosen as the assembly speaker. Their sprps was to pass laws to better manage the colony and to hopefully improve peoples lives and livelyhoods. So it was truly apt that earlier this morning at the Memorial Church on jamestown island, delegates and senators who now represent a portion of these 11 original boroughs were present. Just as their predecessors were 400 years ago today. They, along with our governor, representative of the tribes that wereinative to the soil, now distinguished leaders and guests assembled where representation of the will of the people began in america and evolved throughout the United States. Likewise, here now at jamestown settlement in this recreated church, we are again joined by certain successors representing the 11th major settlement areas. But also with us on this historic occasion are two leading participants and wellinformed witnesses who attended that very first session of the virginia jaerges sembly four centuries ago. So by special arrangement and the marvelous wonders of living history, let us now hear the voices of virginia colonys first governor, governor yardley, followed by the first speaker of the General Assembly, john porry. Morning. Distinguished guests, gentlemen and kind ladies, theres only been a few years past now since i returned to virginia in the spring of 1619. I brought with me my commission as governor of virginia and a new set of instructions from the Virginia Company of london that has come to be known as the great charter which we hoped would bring stability to this colony suffering under martial law for nearly nine years. We have been at peace with the indians for many years and the harsh hand of martial law rather than a help to the colony was now a hindrance. To further the colonys growth and prosterity, the Virginia Company had instructed me to end martial law and reinconstitute English Common law and justice in the colony. The instructions also allowed me to call for each of the 11 towns and plantations along the river to send two representatives here to the capital at jamestown where these newly appointed burgesses would meet to pass laws on the governing of the colony. Citizens of virginia no longer had to fear the arbitrary decisions of Company Officials for we had brought about a familiar form of governing here in virginia. In which their own interests and concerns would drive legislation. At the companys behest, we decided legislative, executive and judicial power between the authority of the governor, the council and this new Representative Assembly made up of colonists living here in virginia. This elected assembly is now the voice of the people here. This assembly is also going to serve, of course, as a check on the power and balance to the power of myself and my counsel. It is my belief that the citizens of virginia have most certainly welcomed this method of establishing laws grounded in English Common law and Political Institutions including the newly formed represent of it assembly that will continue to tend to the affairs of virginia for some time to come. Today as we mark that First Assembly that first meeting of that General Assembly that took place on this same day these few years past, some would say that as near as may be, we have brought virginia to the laudable form of justice and government that we all knew in england. I call upon my good friend and counselor, and a man that i appointed speaker for that first meeting of our General Assembly, for his recollections of that gathering. Speaker porry . Thank you, governor yeardley. I remember when you and i, along with a few appointed counselors and about 20 elected burgesses began meeting together on this very date, july the 30th, during the torrid and sickly summer of 1619. Our first legislative session was held in the choir of the church here at jamestown as it was the most convenient place we could find to sit. tis true the governor appointed me from his counsel to serve as a speak are for the whole assembly and not because of my kinship to his wife lady temperance, nea, but rather, i was the only member of the assembly who served as an elected lawmaker in the house of commons. I drew upon my experience there to organize our new assembly and reduce all the matters pending before it and to a ready method for the greater ease of the members. The first task of our proceedings was to review and discuss the new great charter of 1618. After close examination in committees, this charter received the general ascent and applause of the whole assembly. tis certain the ending of cruel martial laws and the granting of good lands to ancient planters who had long labored here gave us all great encouragement and hope. Another great task was to propose, debate and vote upon suitable laws for the welfare and peaceable government of this infant commonwealth. Our new laws were carefully drawn from two sources. Firstly, Previous Company instructions sent from london to governors here in virginia were reviewed by committees. Those instructions thought fit to be converted into new laws were reported and further debated. 18 of them were given yet one review more and then did pass the final consent of the assembly. I recall several of these laws dealt with labor contracts and the production of particular commodities. Secondly, another 18 laws were debated and passed which originated within the minds of the People Living and working here in virginia. Several of these laws promoted regular religious observances and required our ministers to record births, deaths and marriages among our growing population. Other laws safeguarded the peace and regulated our trade with the native indians that were living in great numbers all around us. In some, over five days, 36 laws, were created from previous instructions and from proposals made by many of the burgesses working behalf of the sundry inhabitants who elected them. These new laws brought to life by our little flock did touch every one living here to the li life. Our General Assembly also produced several petitions to forward to Company Leaders in london. Mostly to clarify some points in the great charter that touching upon land and rent and inheritance and new settlers. I included these petitions in a detailed report of our legislative and Legal Proceedings which were i was charged with writing and then sending across the ocean. I am told that this report, some 30 pages of manu script has survived and is now known to all of you. I can testify that for many years, the future of our newly planted General Assembly remained very much in doubt. I witnessed the crown dissolving the charter of the Virginia Company and converting this land into a crown colony less than six years after our First Assembly. And yet tis also true the People Living here did carefully nurture and protect the valuable right to elect their own burgesses and, thus maintain a growing voice in their own affairs. On this special day, my concluding charge to all of you is this. Keep the promises in the great charter and in governor yeardleys commission and follow the rules of justice and Good Government for the benefit of the people and the strength of our commonwealth. Adieu. [ applause ] Pulitzer Prize editor jon meacham not long ago said the obligation as a historian or story teller is to put yourself in the shoes of the people engaged in those events and then try to figure out what they knew, when they knew it. From the presentations we just witnessed, the wisdom of that statement is clear. Thank you governor yeardley and speaker pory. Also, i truly hope everyone will find time or make time to see john porys original 1619 minutes of the First Legislative Assembly to convene four centuries ago today. Theyre on loan for the first time in america in 400 years from the National Archives of the United Kingdom and on public exhibit for several months here at jamestown settlement. Now its truly my pleasure to welcome our next speaker who also had a marvelous way of making history come alive. Jon meacham is a talented and extremely gifted historian. Hes one of todays preminent biographers. Hes won a Pulitzer Prize for literary endeavors and a popular bestselling author. Jon meachams extensive writings have helped many people, young and old, find knowledge and understanding as well as wisdom and purposes in history. Perhaps better still, he tells stories as well as anyone writing about america. The legacy of jamestown in 1619 as i alluded to earlier is complex. But through american evolution, this yearlong commemoration we have been working hard to make sure its examined thoughtfully, carefully and in full historical context. Here, as with other aspects of history, we confront contradictions and stated purposes in recorded outcomes and contradictions twine principles embraced in deeds done. We can and should and are sorting through this and trying mightily to be to better educate us all. Thats why having an historian as a student as discerning as jon meacham here today is such a tremendous opportunity for education and learning. Barbara tuchman, mr. Meacham says, famously remarked that readers will go along with you when youre telling stories about even very well known events if you write it as it was lived without knowing the end. Well, we are very much in the flow of history these days. None of us knows the end. The stories of American History have been illuminated, clarified and enriched by our distinguished guests and next speaker. I cannot think of a more appropriate occasion to hear us engaging in scholarly insights in jamestown. The year 1619 and so very much more than on this very important anniversary in American History. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me and give a warm welcome to mr. Jon meacham. [ applause ] thank you. I just said to the speaker, i could tell he wasnt sworn as he went through that. Whenever i think im the most preeminent anything, my mind goes back to a moment, it was about ten years ago now on the washington mall, and i was at that point on my way to give a talk about andrew jackson. And a woman ran up to me, which doesnt happen enough, or ever, actually, and she said, oh, my god, its you. And i said, well, yes. Thats hard to argue with. And she said, your books have meant so much to me. I love them. Will you wait right here. Im going to get you to im going to go buy your book and have you sign it. I said yes, maam. I stood here thinking this is the way the world is supposed to be. Women are supposed to run up to you, buy your book. It was a twofor. Hand to god, she brought back John Grishams latest novel. So as a distinguished guest. So whenever i think im that distinguished, i remind myself that somewhere in america theres a woman with a forged copy of the runaway jury because you have to sign it. And this is a significant act of ecumenical diversity for you all to have a tennessean come to you on this day. So im delighted. The story that we commemorate today began with dreams of god and of gold, but not necessarily in that order. Issued by king james i in 1606, the first charter of virginia was 3,805 words long. 98 of those words were about carrying religion, as it put it, to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of god. 97 of the charter concerned the taking of, as it put it, all the lands, woods, soil, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, marshes, waters, fishing, commodities, as well as orders to dig, mine and search for all manner of mines of gold, silver and copper. Andegj so god and mammonne f men across the seas and the evolutionary beginnings of popular government came soon after their arrival. We are here this morning in large measure because in 1618, a faction within the Virginia Company led by sir edwin sands, successfully argued for a series of reforms resulting in what the governor and the speaker have just told us was the great charter. A set of instructions sent to governor yeardley who was to begin his term in 1619. Officials of the Company Authorized the governor to oversee the selection of two male setlers from each of the 11 major settlement areas to attend a General Assembly here in jamestown. This new form of governor divided political and judicial power between the governor, a counsel appointed by the Virginia Company and the new General Assembly. The assemblys first meeting took place four centuries ago this very day from tuesday, july 30th, through sunday, august 4th. Our friend john pory, secretary of the colony, served as speaker. Six appointed Council Members attended along with 22 of the selected burgesses. And so the government in the new world began. As Abraham Lincoln reminded us, we cannot escape history. And id argue that we should not want to or try to. For by our heritage and our hope, we, as americans, are charged with a sacred duty to fulfill the injunction that to whom much is given, much is expected. And as americans, we have been given much, and those gifts in many ways are rooted here at jamestown. Gifts of liberty, of opportunity, of selfgovernment and of what lincoln was to call a fair chance to enable us to lead lives of prosperity and of peace. Which is why this is a good moment and a good place to reflect on who weve been, who we are and where we might go in the next 400 years. For to know whats come before is to be armed against despair. If the men and women of the past, with all their flaws and limitations and ambitions and appetites could press on through ignorance and superstition through racism and sexism, through selfishness and greed, then perhaps we, too, can take another step toward a more perfect union. History has the capacity to bring us together. For our story is ultimately one of obstacles overcome, crises resolved and freedom expanded. The story, jamestown story and americas, is about the best of us and, yes, the worst of us. There was human enslavement. There was the abuse and dispossession of the native inhabitants, some of whom, it should be said, were essential to the survival of jamestown in its earliest days. There was the subjugation of women. There was, there is our mixed record of welcoming new immigrants to our shores. And yet and yet so much of American History is captured in the phrase, and yet. And yet in this place, representative government, government of the people, not of princes or prellates began. This First Assembly on the banks of the james was the forerunner of the United States k congres. Of the other 49 state legislatures and of all other american legislative bodies. In the fullness of time, this first planting blossomed into a world wide Democratic Institution and of free nations. A development in which American Leadership and sacrifice played and should play an indispensable role. We should note, too, that the first thanksgiving in america can be traced not to the yankees at Plymouth Rock but to our fellow southerners here in virginia. An instance of new england cultural imperrialism, we should not reward. After all, dont we throw better parties . As a tennessean, i would say so. Im a graduate of the university of the south. My best friend in college was from lynchburg. His name is jack daniels. You all know him. We should not sentimentalize the american experience. The nation has been morally flawed from the beginning. We must be honest about that. And our honesty should lead us to do all that we can do to be about the work of justice. In august 1619, the white lion arrived at port comfort, virginia, at present day hampton. The ship held 20 and odd africans who were traded in exchange for provisions. Originally captured by portuguese slavers in west central africa, these were the first recorded africans to arrive in english north america, and they were treated much as slaves were in other european colonies, regardless of age or gender. The irony was not lost on the old world. How is it the english man of letter, Samuel Johnson asked that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from among the drivers of negros . How is it . Well, this is how. We are not perfect. We are a fallen and a sinful people. We get some things right and some things wrong. We try and we fail, but we must try again and again and again for only in trial is progress possible. And the story of america is, in fact, the story of progress. At our best, we reach out, we look ahead, and we dream big. And at our best, we close the gap between the ideal and the real. The test of the nation, like the test of an individual, cannot be perfection. For perfection is not possible until the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth. The test, rather, turns on how often we hes our better angels rather than our worst instincts. The work of america is not done. The american revolution, indeed the american evolution, unfolds still. That is our blessing and our burden. Extremism, racism, nativism, xenophobia and isolationism, driven by a fear of the unknown, tend to spike in periods of stress. A period like our own. As we gather here, faith and representative institutions is ebbing. Reflexive partisanship is the order of the day. Too many seem more interested in producing heat than shedding light. Our politics rewards the clenched fist and the harsh remark more than the open hand and the welcoming word. Yet history teaches us that weve always grown stronger the more widely weve opened our arms and the more generously weve interpreted the most important sentence ever originally rendered in english. Thomas jeffersons assertion that all men are created equal. I will say i am careful about hyperbollic claims like the most important sentence in the english language. Largely because of the old story about the Texas School Board candidate who was against teaching spanish in the Public Schools and said on the stump one day if english is good enough for our lord jesus christ, its good enough for texas. But thats in texas, so we wont worry about that. I also point out if it werent for tennessee, texas would still be part of spain and they dont like that at all. First time i met george w. Bush, i told him that when he was governor. He went, ha, ha, thats pretty funny, jerk. We dont tend to build monuments to people who build walls. We build monuments to people who open doors. We honor liberators, not captors. The battle between hope and fear, between whats right and whats convenient, between the larger good and personal interest. Those are the battles that have been fought in our common experience for 400 years. And they unfold still. And the terrain on which light and dark contend is nothing less than the arena of the soul. Socrates believed the soul was the animating force of reality. In the Second Chapter of genesis, the soul was like itself. And the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. In the greek new testament, when jesus says greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends, the word for life could also be translated as soul. And our history is determined, our lives are determined by the outcome of the clashes within our soul, both individual and national, between liberty and slavery, between grace and rage, and between kindness and cruelty. Good, great good, dwells in our national soul. Yet, there is evil, too. Good and evil. Such is the stuff of the unfolding lives of nations down the centuries. During a secret summit at sea in august of 1941, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill attended a Church Service aboard the hms prince of wales. Together they sang o god our help in ages past, onward christian soldiers and, yes, we are christian soldiers and we will go on with gods help. And on we went. A product of that rendezvous between fdr and churchill was the Atlantic Charter, a statement of war aims and the struggle against fascism and totalitarianism. Without a great charter in jamestown, there might not have been an Atlantic Charter amid the winds of the second world war. More broadly, without a jamestown in 1619, there might not have been a lexington and concord in 1775. Nor a philadelphia in 1776 and 1787. Nor a seneca falls in 1848, nor 1865. Nor an omaha beach in 1944. Nor a selma in 1965. Nor a stonewall in 1969. Nor a berlin in 1989. In our search, in our hunger for a way forward, through the malstrom of twitter and tribalism, id commend the utility of history. The very kind of remembrance were undertaking at this hour. The beginning of wisdom lies in an appreciation of the past which, as William Faulkner taught us isnt dead. It isnt even passed. What can we learn from the kind of history we contemplate today . That the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. That compromise is the oxygen of democracy. And that we learn the most from those who came before, not by gazing up at them adoringly or down on them condescendingly, but looking them in the eye and taking them for what they were. Human. Not as impossibly perfect heroes or as hopelessly irredeemable villains. Knowing the history of freedom is not only illuminating but enabling. A person who understands that the past in all its glory and grandeur and horror and injustice understands that the path of civilization while never straight is essentially upward. Forward. To what churchill once called the broad and sunlit uplands. For all its faults, jamestown was the place where different cultures first came together in ed english north america setting the stage for racial, ethnic and eventually religious and other forms of diversity. Capitalism and private enterprise are rooted here, too. Jamestown is a mirror of who we were and who we are. Dreamers and doers came here, and they built and we stand in the light of their achievement. In our finest hours, america has been about life. Its been about liberty. Its been about the pursuit of happiness, not just for some, but for all. And in that history, history rooted here in this place, lies our hope. Thank you. [ applause ] i think from that applause, jon, everyone certainly wants to thank you for this powerful engaging, incredibly hopeful remarks. We are truly grateful. Successfully didnt knock it off the podium, which was really good. The joint assembly will now come to order. Sergeant at arms. The clerk will call the roll of the members of the house and senate representing the 11 origin aal boroughs. From flower to hundred, Martins Brandon and wards hundred, delegate brewer. From the city of senator chase. Aye. From lawns hundred, senator cosgrove. From the city of henrikas. Flower due hundred. Delegate ingram . Aye. James city and martins hundred, senator mason . Aye. From argiles gift and martins hundred, delegate mullan. Aye. James city, kikotan, lawns hundred and martins hundred, senator norman . Aye. From james city and martins hundred, delegate pogy. Mr. Speaker, members are present. Joint assembly now will stand in recess and proceed in procession to reconvene on the mall. Next, President Trump headlines remarks delivered on the 400th anniversary of the first virginia General Assembly. This is the final part of a threepart ceremony. The joint assembly will come to order. The members will rise and be led in prayer by the right reverend susan goff, ecclesiastical authority, episcopal
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