Among petitions sent to the Virginia Company in London was one proving that in the allotment of land to the planters, each male child born in Virginia should be given one share for himself and one share for his wife—for herself—'"because that in a new plantation it is not known whether a man or woman be the more necessary." Another interesting petition asked that the company would send over for the erection of the proposed '"'university and college'' at Henricopolis "workmen of all sorts fit for that purpose."
After sweating and stewing, battling with flies and mosquitoes to the limit of endurance, the Assembly finally adjourned on the afternoon of August 4, to meet again in the following March.
And so passed into history the gathering at little Jamestown, in Virginia, which was the beginning of American democracy.
It is interesting to know that at a meeting of the Executive Council of the Virginia Company of London, held at the house of Sir Edwin Sandys, the grant, of February, 1620, assuring the Pilgrims the privileges of self-government similar to those already granted the Virginia colony was "examined and sealed in view of and with the approbation of the members present."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.