everyday life, particularly during an election year when these big ideas of who we are and what we stand for become part of our national discourse in exciting ways. >> well, ted maris-wolf, we appreciate you this morning talking to our viewers about colonial williamsburg and the work that you do there. >> thank you so much. >> and that sets up nicely what you are going to see next, which is a tour of the capital with site supervisor tom hay. this runs about 25 minutes. and then when we come back, it will be your chance to talk to president thomas jefferson. we'll talk to bill barker who portrays him, he's been portraying him for 22 years at colonial williamsburg, and he will be in character, your chance to ask your questions right after this tour of the capitol.

welcome to the capitol building here at colonial williamsburg. the general assembly of the colony of virginia met first at jamestown starting in 1619. they would meet in jamestown for 80 years, finally moving to what was then known as middle plantation and renamed for the king, king william, as williamsburg. by 1704 the capitol building had been built on this spot. this is a reconstruction of the first capitol building. and it would be here from 1704 finally burning down in 1747, rebuilt by 1753 and used until 1779. it is on this spot that founding fathers like patrick henry, george washington and thomas jefferson, learned to be representatives of the people. so while this building is a

story of virginia and its history, it is in a far greater sense the history of the entire united states of america. its story is part of our common heritage as citizens. this was the very first government building ever to be referred to as a capitol. prior to this, down at jamestown, they called the government building the statehouse. and they lost four statehouses to fire down at jamestown. when they came here to williamsburg in 1699 and this building was built by 1704, it was determined that they would use the term capitol based on capitoline hill in rome which they thought was the home of the ancient roman senate. and the chamber that we're standing in, this is the chamber of the house of burgess, which was the lower house of the

assembly. and just like the house of commons in london, this is where all money bills had to originate. and so during the 18th century, there would be two burgesses for every county, one for the college of william and mary, and one for jamestown, norfolk and williamsburg. and this became the centerpiece or birth place of the american protest against the stamp act. but let me point out a few things. not only did you have burgess es sitting here, but the speaker of the house sat in this large ceremonial chair up here. and this chair is the original speaker's chair lent to us by the commonwealth of virginia. we know it was here in 1704 in

the capitol that burnt down in 1747. and as a reminder, we know that the bottom of this chair is actually slightly charred when they moved it out during that fire. there was a second capitol building built on this spot by the 1750s. and that building would stay here in use until 1779 when richmond became the capital. however, it was in sessions like here that they would adopt various and sundry ideas into law. and that process worked the same way it does in any state capital or federal capital today, a bill would be introduced, it would be read once and then after being read once, it would go up to

committee. after the committee worked on it, it came down here and the committee version was then read. and then finally there would be a debate on the committee version read a third time and then there would be voting upon. but it wasn't just that. other things would happen. on this very spot is where patrick henry introduced his resolutions against the stamp act. and encapsulated in that resolution, not in so many words, but there was a very clear thought that there could be no taxation without representation. parliament in an attempt to pay not only for the french and indian war but the hugely increased administrative cost of the new empire that they had won in that war wanted his majesty's american subjects in this colony to pay what they considered to be a fair share of the cost of that war and administering this huge new empire that had been added on. but the americans felt that they could not be taxed by legislature that they had no representation in.

and so mr. henry as a new member of the house introduced his resolutions. of those resolutions, they were all introduced when this body met as a committee of the whole, but when they met again as the house, only five of his resolutions got passed. however, the colonial newspapers up and down the east coast were of the impression that all seven had been passed and gave the house of burgesses a far greater reputation for radicalism than it deserved at the time. we know that they kept the portraits of various monarchs. in fact here is king george ii. he was the favorite because he left the americans alone. his very long time on the throne would end up being a period of benign neglect. and opposite is his wife queen caroline who caroline county is

named for. and she was very popular because she never bothered virginia. at any rate, it was not only the stamp act that caused problems here in virginia, but later legislation would, too. as a matter of fact, during the townsend duty debates as well as during the debates about the boston pork bill which happened as a parliamentary answer to the boston tea party as we call it now a days, well that would lead to this assembly being dismissed by the royal governor because royal governors had that power at this time. it termed out that it was determine that had they had to mark the port of boston, so they marked a day of fasting, and prayer. but the governor said only the

king, head of the church of england, could do such a thing and he dismissed the house. which played into the hands of the virginians. they pointed out that the house had not passed the fee schedule that allowed the courts or militia to meet. and virginians started meeting as conventions of the people of virginia. the first one that met on this spot would send george washington and edmond pendleton and patrick henry up to the first continental congress where the speaker of this body, payton randolph, would be elected as the first president of the continental congress. and they would continue to meet as conventions of the people of virginia. the second one met up in richmond where patrick henry

gave his famous give me liberty or give me death speech. but it would be the fifth meeting that they would adopt the virginia resolution for independence. and that resolution for independence stated that the people of virginia were now separate and independent of the crown and parliament of great britain. but having dissolved the ties to the old government, he they went on to say that there must be a new constitution, that would be the first written american constitution written after independence, and that if the purpose of government was to ensure rights and liberties, they determined that they would also have to come up with a declaration of rights. that would be the first american bill of rights. and that was worked on mainly in

committee. so i'd like to take you upstairs and show you the committee rooms where they would work on the virginia declaration of rights. here we're in one of three committee rooms. and there were standing committees of house where just like today, most work goes on in committee. there was the committee of religion formed in 1772, the committee on trade, proposition and grievances, public claims. and will is also election and privileges. and that committee is one of the most interesting one because it was in elections and privileges that all the disputed elections would be adjudicated by the house. and for anyone who thinks that disputed elections are something novel and new to america, well, they need to check out the

records of that particular committee. there were as many disputed elections back then as we have today. but very few elections now a day end up with this being thrown or clubs being used as happened on occasion in the colony of virginia. but a different committee was the committee that i mentioned before. that was used to determine the virginia declaration of rights. now, a declaration of rights is nothing new. to give you an idea, here we have a portrait of king william. william iii, also known as william of orange. william came to the throne during the glorious revolution of 1688 and in 1689, it was his opinion that the people of england should be reassured that their rights and privileges will continue and they came up with the english bill of rights of 1689. that served as an example about for the virginia declaration of

rights of 1776. both of these were broken up into various articles. and what is very interesting is the english bill of rights of 1689 contains an article expressly forbidding cruel and unusual punishment and includes almost word for word in the virginia bill of rights and the american bill of rights passed in 1789, almost 100 years after the english bill of rights was passed. so the past is prologue and there is also precedence to be found. but not everything on the virginia declaration of rights was taken from the english bill of rights. for instance, shortly we'll step across and see where the upper house met. the upper house was the council of virginia.

and the council of virginia served obviously a legislative function being the upper house of the general assembly, but it also was the body of judges of the general court, our high court, thus fulfilling a judicial function. but they also were an executive advisory committee to the governor, thus serving the function much like a captain might do today, thus having an effective function. so that body was represented in all three branches of the government. and this committee determined that there should be a separation of powers, a new novel virginia idea that was decided and adopted right here on this spot in june of 1776. where we are physically is we are in the middle bar of the letter h that is shaped by this building. so we were on the east side of

this building where the lower house met on the lower floor. this room serves literally as a bridge in between what could be called the people side of this building and the king side of this building. the purpose of this space before the revolution is it was the joint conference room where on occasion both houses would appoint members to sit here and hammer out differences between resolutions or acts before they could be passed by both houses and signed by the governor. but let's walk through the king side of this building and i will show you where the council met in the 18th century. follow me, please. we're here in the chamber of the council of the colony of virginia. and this is where there would be meetings for various sorts of business.

as a matter of fact, one of the things that we know happened repeatedly here is independent nations of indians such as cherokee would come here on diplomatic missions. hopefully they were here to present devices like this, is this a piece felt, that there would be a bright and shining friendship in between virginians and the cherokee. and belts like this were kept in this chamber to show that there would be peace between the cherokee and virginians. didn't always happen that way, but there was hope for peace. they would also meet to discuss other items, as well. the 12 counselors were the creme de la creme of society. they hold royal appointments and they served for life or good behavior. the governor would sit here in a chair much like this and then the other council members would

sit to either side. and here is where they would pass legislation as the upper house of the assembly. as a matter of fact, we know that during the stamp act crisis, the members of this crisis agreed with the lower house. after that, every royal governor had standing instructions that if any member of the council ever saw fit to go against parliament or the king's instructions, the governor could summarily dismiss them from the council and the governor's action would be backed up by the crown. and then he could replace someone who was more compliant. so as virginia moved closer to the revolution, the council unlike the house of burgesses grew more and more quiet just hoping that the storm of

controversy would pass over them quietly. it didn't happen that way. we also have other things that remind us here. we have portraits of iroquois kings, it's a headman of the iroquois nation, who were sent to london itself to show the royal government in london the concerns of the iroquois people before other things that would occur here would be reactions to the lower house deciding to oppose the stamp act. we also know that the best law library that belonged to the government was in this building. as a matter of fact, down below, i mentioned the day of fasting, you humiliation and prayer. well, we know that thomas jefferson, patrick henry, richard henry lee and others came up into this chamber. they borrowed a history book

about the english civil wars. and they found one time when parliament declared a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer. that would lead to the virginia resolution and that would lead to the governor dissolving the house. >> and i therefore dissolve your house of burgesses accordingly. god save the king. >> and that would be the last session of the house before the american resolution. in 1774, no one knew that yet. what became the american revolution was at that point still a tax protest. we're going to go downstairs and see where these men met as the high court justices in the general court of the colony of virginia. we're now in the general courtroom. and this is where in the 18th

century, three subjects of his majesty would be tried for various felony crimes. but also the court would take care of other issues, as well. will probate of the greatest states would occur here. and virginians came here to sue and be sued. but it's the criminal cases that really grab our attention. we know for instance that there was one woman, susanna brazier, who was sent here tried for theft in england, sentenced to die, but given alternative to coming here to virginia and severing as a convict servant for 14 years. during her time here, she for some reason, and we don't know the story, ended up murdering her mistress. that is the wife of the man who owned her 14 years.

she was brought here and tried for that murder. she was found guilty and sentenced to hang by the neck until she was dead. and she was returned to the jail and she spent her last christmas on earth in the cells of our jail waiting for the new year and her eventual execution. but when this court met, it is so important that the governor himself sat up here as chief magistrate with his counselors from above stairs sitting to either side. and here they would ensure that his majesties peace when broken was quickly repaired. earlier in the century, there were black beard pirates who were tried here on this spot. 15 of them were brought here to williamsburg. one was acquitted, one was pardoned, and 13 were hanged.

later on we know that, well, there were horse thieves and there were murderers who were tried here as well as women who were accused of killing their bastard children. that was the only time that there was no presumption of innocence. now, once the virginia declaration of rights was passed, the men who sat here were no longer part of the administrative or legislative part of government. the judiciary was separate and independent. what had been the old council of virginia was split in to three groups, the justices of high court would eventually add a chancery court with ore other judges named. and then the council of virginia

remained the council of state advising the governor, but strictly an advisory body. and then what had been the legislative functions of that body became the senate of virginia, a body that still exists today. in fact the general assembly of virginia is set to be the oldest continuously meeting english speaking legislative body on the planet. i might also leave you with the thought that streets our rights as criminals that changed very little during the american revolution. before, during and after the american revolution, you had to right to presumption of innocent, the right to a jury trial, a right to call witnesses on your behalf and challenge those brought against you. and that worked so well that people were not interested in changing any of that one bit. although we still argue about the application of all these principles to this day. thank you for coming to the capitol and to colonial williamsburg. we appreciate your time.