== 3rd General Assembly ==
== 3rd General Assembly ==
The third legislature first met December 3, 1804.{{sfnp|Rowland|1925|p=402}}
The third legislature first met December 3, 1804.{{sfnp|Rowland|1925|p=402}}
Extra session: A report from an extra session held in July 1805 was published by the Terrell brothers in Natchez.{{Sfnp|McMurtie|1945|p=44}}
== 4th General Assembly ==
== 4th General Assembly ==
Legislature, 1800–1817
The Mississippi Territory General Assembly was the legislature of the Mississippi Territory of the United States. As organized by the U.S. Congress in May 1800, there were to be four representatives from Adams County, four from Pickering County, and one each from the Tensaw and Tombigbee settlements “until the number of free male inhabitants of full age, in the Mississippi territory, shall amount to five thousand.”[1] The General Assembly was bicameral and according to Dunbar Rowland the Legislative Council was the upper house and the House of Representatives the lower.[2] Initially, there were five members of the legislative council, and the number was increased to nine in 1814.[3] The Assembly elected the Mississippi territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress until 1808 “when popular election of congressional delegates was instituted.”[3] The territorial assembly was succeeded by the Mississippi General Assembly at statehood in 1817.[4]
1st General Assembly
First session: The first election of legislators was to be the “fourth Monday in July” 1800, and the first session was to begin in Natchez on “the fourth Monday in September.”[5] The first election, in 1800, resulted in the apparent election of Cato West, Thomas M. Green, John Burnet, Thomas Calvet, Henry Hunter and James Hoggett, but the latter two, along with Anthony Hutchins and William Dunbar were not seated, on the grounds of “improper credentials” and/or incomplete returns. A petition was sent to Congress asking for intervention was declined.[6]
Third session: Met at Washington on May 3, 1802; printed a report.
2nd General Assembly
First session: The second meeting of the General Assembly was conducted for about five weeks beginning in July 1801.[2] Bibliographer McMurtrie reports that the second session met December, 1802, to March, 1803.
Second session: Incoming Governor W. C. C. Claiborne addressed the General Assembly on December 1, 1801.[9] The legislature remained in session until February 2, 1802, repealed many existing laws, tried and failed to pass a law prohibiting the importation of male slaves over 16, changed the name of Pickering County to Jefferson, and created Claiborne and Wilkinson counties.[10] Most significantly they voted to move the territorial capital from Natchez to Washington, about six miles up the Natchez Trace.[11]
The Assembly met again in October 1803, as a total body of nine people. John Ellis headed the Legislative Council.[12] William Connor was the speaker of the house.[13] A report from this session was published by Andrew Marschalk.
3rd General Assembly
The third legislature first met December 3, 1804.[15] The session ended in March 1805. A report was published.
Extra session: A report from an extra session held in July 1805 was published by the Terrell brothers in Natchez.
4th General Assembly
New apportionment in 1808 allocated two representatives each to Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams, Wilkinson, and Washington counties.[18]
The fourth legislature convened in February, 1808, and “both houses were dissolved by the Governor Robert Williams on the 1st of March,” with the apparent intent of “obliterating” the legislative council.[19]
6th General Assembly
The Mississippi Territory House of Representatives met July 3, 1809, and recommended the following membership for the legislative council, later approved by James Madison: Alexander Montgomery, Adams County (father of Alexander Montgomery); David McCaleb, Jefferson County; Thomas Barnes, Claiborne County; Joseph Carson, Washington County; Joseph Roberts, Wilkinson County.[20]
7th and 8th General Assemblies
According to a 20th-century bibliographer, “There are neither journals nor laws recorded for the 7th and 8th sessions of the territorial legislature. Dates of sessions are not known, but they were held during the years 1811–1814.”[21]
9th General Assembly
The first session of the ninth general assembly convened at Washington, M.T. on November 6, 1815.[22][23] The legislative council had six members.[23]
References
- ^ Bloom, John Porter; Carter, Clarence Edwin; United States (1934). The Territorial papers of the United States. Publication (United States. National Archives and Records Service). Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. pp. 95–98.
- ^ a b Rowland (1925), p. 379.
- ^ a b “Series 515: Laws of the Mississippi Territory. 1799–1800. | Finding Aids”. finding.mdah.ms.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
- ^ Mississippi; Holmes, David (1817). Letter from His Excellency David Holmes, Governor of the State of Mississippi: transmitting a copy of the constitution and form of government of the said state. Constitution and form of government. Washington: Printed by E. De Kraft.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 370.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 371.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 380.
- ^ Rowland (1925), pp. 381–382.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 384.
- ^ “Founders Online: Mississippi Territory Legislative Council to Thomas Jefferson …”. founders.archives.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 398.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 402.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 431.
- ^ Rowland (1925), pp. 428, 431.
- ^ Rowland (1925), p. 446.
- ^ McMurtrie, Douglas C. (1936). A short-title list of books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in Mississippi 1811 to 1830. Chicago. pp. 3–5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ “By David Holmes, Governor of Mississippi Territory”. Natchez Gazette. June 28, 1815. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
- ^ a b “Territorial Legislature”. Natchez Gazette. November 11, 1815. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
