<P> Originally a synonym of burgher or bourgeois, the word "burgess" came to mean a borough representative in local or parliamentary government . </P> <P> The Colony of Virginia was founded by an English stock company, the Virginia Company, as a private venture, though under a royal charter . Early governors provided the stern leadership and harsh judgments required for the colony to survive its early difficulties . As early crises with famine, disease, Native American attempts to keep their good land, the need to establish cash crops, insufficient skilled or committed labor, the colony needed to attract enough new and responsible settlers if it were to grow and prosper . </P> <P> To encourage settlers to come to Virginia, in November, 1618 the Virginia Company's leaders gave instructions to the new Governor Sir George Yeardley, which became known as "the great charter ." Emigrants who paid their own way to Virginia would receive fifty acres of land and not be mere tenants . Civil authority would control the military . In 1619, based on the instructions, Governor Yeardley initiated the election 22 burgesses by the settlements and Jamestown, who, together with the royally - appointed Governor and six - member Council of State, would form the first General Assembly as a unicameral body . The governor could veto its actions and the Company still maintained overall control of the venture, but the settlers would have a limited say in the management of their own affairs, including their finances . A House of Assembly was created at the same time in Bermuda (which had also been settled by the Virginia Company, and was by then managed by its offshoot, the Somers Isles Company) and held its first session in 1620 . </P> <P> A handful of Polish craftsmen, brought to the colony to supply skill in the manufacture of pitch, tar, potash, and soap ash, were initially denied the political rights of English settlers . They downed tools in protest, but returned to work after being declared free (probably in the sense of civil liberty) and enfranchised, apparently by agreement with the Virginia Company . </P>

Who authorized the creation of a legislative assembly in 1619