24: [Massachusetts Bicameral Ordinance] - Donald S. Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History [1998]
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Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History, ed. Donald S. Lutz (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1998).
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- Preface
- Introductory Essay
- New Hampshire: 1: [agreement of the Settlers At Exeter In New Hampshire]
- 2: General Laws and Liberties of New Hampshire
- Massachusetts: 3: [agreement Between the Settlers At New Plymouth] (the Mayflower Compact)
- 4: [plymouth Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity]
- 5: [the Salem Covenant of 1629]
- 6: [agreement of the Massachusetts Bay Company At Cambridge, England]
- 7: [the Watertown Covenant of July 30, 1630]
- 8: [massachusetts Election Agreement]
- 9: The Oath of a Freeman, Or of a Man to Be Made Free
- 10: [the Massachusetts Agreement On the Legislature]
- 11: [cambridge Agreement]
- 12: [dorchester Agreement]
- 13: [cambridge Agreement On a Town Council]
- 14: [massachusetts Agreement On the Legislature]
- 15: The Oath of a Freeman
- 16: [salem Oath For Residents]
- 17: [watertown Agreement On Civil Officers]
- 18: [the Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636]
- 19: [plymouth Agreement]
- 20: [pilgrim Code of Law]
- 21: [dedham Covenant]
- 22: [the Massachusetts Body of Liberties]
- 23: [the Combination of the Inhabitants Upon the Piscataqua River For Government]
- 24: [massachusetts Bicameral Ordinance]
- 25: [massachusetts Ordinance On the Legislature]
- 26: The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts
- 27: [massachusetts Ordinance On Legislative Procedure]
- 28: [towns of Wells, Gorgiana, and Piscataqua Form an Independent Government]
- 29: [the Cambridge Agreement of October 4, 1652]
- 30: [puritan] Laws and Liberties
- 31: [an Act of the General Court]
- Rhode Island: 32: [providence Agreement]
- 33: [government of Pocasset]
- 34: [newport Agreement]
- 35: [the Government of Portsmouth]
- 36: Plantation Agreement At Providence
- 37: [organization of the Government of Rhode Island]
- 38: [warwick Agreement]
- 39: Acts and Orders of 1647
- 40: Charter of Providence
- 41: [general Assembly of Rhode Island Is Divided Into Two Houses]
- Connecticut: 42: Plantation Covenant At Quinnipiack
- 43: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
- 44: Guilford Covenant
- 45: Structure of Town Governments
- 46: Fundamental Articles of New Haven
- 47: [connecticut Oath of Fidelity]
- 48: Capitall Lawes of Connecticut, Established By the Generall Court the First of December, 1642
- 49: The Government of Guilford
- 50: New Haven Fundamentals
- 51: [majority Vote of Deputies and Magistrates Required For the Passage of Laws In Connecticut]
- 52: Connecticut Code of Laws
- 53: Preface to the General Laws and Liberties of Connecticut Colony Revised and Published By Order of the General Court Held At Hartford In October 1672
- 54: [division of the Connecticut General Assembly Into Two Houses]
- New York: 55: [a Letter From Governor Richard Nicolls to the Inhabitants of Long Island]
- 56: Charter of Liberties and Privileges
- New Jersey: 57: Fundamentals of West New Jersey
- Pennsylvania: 58: Concessions to the Province of Pennsylvania
- 59: Charter of Liberties and Frame of Government of the Province of Pennsylvania In America
- 60: An Act For Freedom of Conscience
- 61: [pennsylvania Charter of Liberties]
- Maryland: 62: Orders Devised and Published By the House of Assembly to Be Observed During the Assembly
- 63: Act For Establishing the House of Assembly and the Laws to Be Made Therein
- 64: An Act For Church Liberties
- 65: An Act For Swearing Allegeance
- 66: An Act What Persons Shall Be Called to Every General Assembly and an Act Concerning the Calling of General Assemblies
- 67: An Act For the Liberties of the People
- 68: [maryland Toleration Act]
- Virginia: 69: Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Politic, and Martial For the Colony In Virginia
- 70: [laws Enacted By the First General Assembly of Virginia]
- 71: Constitution For the Council and Assembly In Virginia
- 72: [laws and Orders Concluded By the Virginia General Assembly]
- 73: Act Relating to the Biennial and Other Assemblies and Regulating Elections and Members In North Carolina
- South Carolina: 74: Act to Ascertain the Manner and Form of Electing Members to Represent the Province
- Georgia: 75: Act to Ascertain the Manner and Form of Electing Members to Represent the Inhabitants of This Province In the Commons House of Assembly
- Confederations: 76: [the New England Confederation]
- 77: [the Albany Plan of Union]
- 78: The Articles of Confederation
- 79: [william Penn’s Plan of Union]
- 80: [joseph Galloway’s Plan of Union]
24
[Massachusetts Bicameral Ordinance]
Complete text with original spelling taken from Shurtleff, Massachusetts Colonial Records: Vol. ii, 58–59. Discussion of the historical context, as well as examples of related documents, can be found in Michael Kammen, Deputyes & Libertyes: The Origins of Representative Government in Colonial America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969).
March 7, 1644
It was not unusual for colonial legislatures to have two parts that together constituted the whole. One part elected by the towns (here the deputies) would elect the rest of the legislature (here termed the magistrates). Because the two parts sat together as the legislature, there was only an implicit bicameralism. The magistrates sat continuously to advise the governor, and only periodically would the deputies join them to form a sitting legislature. The Connecticut legislature was structured this way (see the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639 [43]), as was the Massachusetts legislature until this ordinance was passed in 1644. Here Massachusetts takes the next step and moves to two separate bodies. Note that the move to bicameralism rests on certain unspecified “inconveniences” as well as on the emulation of unspecified models rather than on theoretical principles. Americans would later develop a substantial theoretical justification for bicameralism—enhancing the pursuit of the common good through a more deliberative process as well as the preservation of liberty through separation of powers—but initially bicameralism had a practical, prudential grounding.
Forasmuch as, after long experience, wee find divers inconveniences in the manner of our proceeding in Courts by magistrates & deputies siting together, & accounting it wisdome to follow the laudable practice of other states who have layd groundworks for government & order in the issuing of business of greatest & highest consequence,—
It is therefore ordered, first, that the magistrates may sit & act busines by themselves, by drawing up bills & orders which they shall see good in their wisdome, which haveing agreed upon, they may present them to the deputies to bee considered of, how good & wholesome such orders are for the country, & accordingly to give their assent or dissent, the deputies in like manner siting apart by themselves, & consulting about such orders & lawes as they in their discretion & experience shall find meete for common good, which agreed upon by them they may present to the magistrates, who, according to their wisdome, haveing seriously considered of them, may consent unto them or disalow them; & when any orders have passed the approbation of both magistrates & deputies, then such orders to bee ingrossed, & in the last day of the Court to bee read deliberately, & full assent to bee given; provided, also, that all matters of judicature which this Court shall take cognisance of shal bee issued in like manner.
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