Of equal moment was the creation, in 1619, of the first democratically-elected body to convene in the new world, the House of Burgesses, the legislative body of Virginia under British colonial rule. By 1700, Virginia had a population of seventy-thousand, and it was emerging as the wealthiest and most influential of the colonies. Massachusetts was a leading colony in the North, and it was to become a center of rebellion against the crown.
