North Carolina General Assembly - History

History

The North Carolina legislature traces its roots to the first assembly for the "County of Albemarle," which was convened in 1665 by Governor William Drummond. Albemarle County was the portion of the British colony of Carolina (under the control of the “Lords Proprietors” before becoming a royal province in 1729) that would eventually become North Carolina.

From approximately 1666 to 1697, the Governor, his council, and representatives of various precincts and towns, elected by male freeholders, sat together as a unicameral legislature. By 1697, this evolved into a bicameral body, with the Governor and his council as the upper house, and the House of Burgesses as the elected lower house. The House, sometimes known simply as “the Assembly,” could only meet when called by the Governor, but it was allowed to set its own rules and to elect its own Speaker. It also controlled the salary of the Governor, and withheld that salary when the Governor displeased a majority of the House. Naturally, conflicts between the Governor and the legislature were frequent. In 1774 and 1775, the people of the colony elected a provincial Congress, independent of the royal governor, as the American Revolution began. Most of its members were also members of what would be the last House of Burgesses.

There would be five Provincial Congresses. The fifth Congress approved the first constitution (1776). Because of the history of distrust of the executive, the constitution firmly established the General Assembly, as it was now called, as the most powerful organ of the state. The bicameral legislature, whose members would all be elected by the people, would itself elect all the officers of the executive and judicial branches. As William S. Powell wrote in North Carolina: A History, “The legislative branch henceforth would have the upper hand. The governor would be the creature of the assembly, elected by it and removable by it….The governor could not take any important step without the advice and consent of the 'council of state,' and he had no voice in the appointment or removal of .” This constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people. The Congress simply adopted it and elected Richard Caswell, the last president of the Congress, as acting Governor until the new legislature was elected and seated.

The new General Assembly, which first convened in April 1777, consisted of a Senate, which had one member from each county (regardless of population), and a House of Commons, which had two members representing each county, plus one each from certain towns. Only land-owning (100 acres for the House of Commons, 300 acres (1.2 km2) for the Senate), Protestant men could serve.

In 1835, the constitution was amended to make the Governor elected by the people, but the legislature still elected all other officials. Amendments also set the number of senators at 50 and the number of commoners at 120. Senators would now be elected by districts representing approximately equal numbers of citizens, rather than by counties. Members of the House were still elected by county, but more populous counties were entitled to more representatives.

In 1868, a new constitution changed the name of the House of Commons to the House of Representatives. It also established the office of Lieutenant Governor. Previously, the Speaker of the Senate was the constitutional successor to the Governor in case of death or resignation. Property qualifications for holding office were also abolished. Finally, the power to elect executive officers and judges was taken from legislators and given to the people.

Starting in 1966 (in the wake of Reynolds v. Sims), members of the House of Representatives were elected from districts, much as senators already were. This left some counties without a resident member of the legislature for the first time in state history.

In 1868, African Americans were first elected to the General Assembly (fifteen representatives and two senators). But after Democrats consolidated power in the late 1890s, no African Americans were elected until Henry Frye (a Democrat) in 1968.

Lillian Exum Clement became the first female member of the General Assembly in 1921.