1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative legislative assembly in the New World — the House of Burgesses — convened in the choir of the town’s church. Earlier that year, the London Company, which had established the Jamestown settlement 12 years before, directed Virginia Gov. Sir George Yeardley to summon a “General Assembly” elected by the settlers, with every free adult male voting. Twenty-two representatives from the 11 Jamestown boroughs were chosen, and Master John Pory was appointed the assembly’s speaker. On July 30, 1619, the House of Burgesses, an English word for “citizens,” convened for the first time. Its first laws required tobacco to be sold for at least three shillings per pound, included prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, and idleness, and made Sabbath observance mandatory. Yeardley became popular among the colonists and he served two terms as Virginia governor.
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