richard henry lee, these were the elite of virginia. they were the elected officials from their counties in the house of burgess.n virginia, we are and always have been proud of the fact that the house of burgesses was the first elected legislative body in the western world, having been in place since 1619 and it still meets today here in richmond at the house of delegates. but back then, membership in the house of burgesses was restricted to white men only. who owned a great deal of land. and so, we must admit and acknowledge that many of these men enslaved people to work that land. or benefitted from the practice. and so you may ask yourself, how did these men reconcile that conflict of fighting for their own liberty against the king and against parliament, while at the same time denying liberty to other people? now, you'll hear that contradiction in mr. henry's speech today. when he refers to england threatening the colonies with chains and slavery and in fact, in 1773, patrick henry himself wrote, who would believe that i am the master of slaves of my own purchase? i cannot, i will not condone it. and yet, m