The Growth of Political Institutions in Virginia, 1634 to 1676

Abstract

ECENT investigations into the texture of colonial America's political culture and the resurgence of scholarly interest in local records suggest the need for a fresh approach to the study of the growth of political institutions in seventeenth-century Virginia.' To provide a framework for reexamining those institutions between i634 and i676 is the purpose of this essay. Central to this objective is the thesis that the General Assembly's creation of the county court system of local government in i634 set in train changes which profoundly affected the character of Virginia's political institutions. Creation of the county courts divided the functions and powers of government between the newly erected local jurisdictions and those governmental organs already in existence at Jamestown. Over a thirty-year period after i634 that division was greatly enlarged by statutory additions to the county courts' responsibilities, by customs, and by local conditions. As the courts' competence in local matters expanded, the General Assembly began to assume a more purely legislative function; the Assembly's development, however, did not keep abreast of the county courts. Furthermore, the governor's broad powers to direct the colony's political life were eroded by custom and the willing acquiescence of governors. As the county courts became important centers of power, some Vir-