On July 30, 1619, the oldest continuous law-making body, the Virginia General Assembly, was established as the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a bicameral body consisting of the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower body with 100 members, and the Senate of Virginia, the upper body with 40 members. The Speaker of the House, who is currently Howell William J. from Stafford County, leads the House of Delegates. Ralph Northam, the Lieutenant Governor, presides over the Senate.
The General Assembly meets in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, in the Virginia State Capitol Building. They meet each year on the second Wednesday in January for 60 days in even-numbered years and for 30 days in odd-numbered years, and again in …show more content…
Byrd was the political leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia. His faction of the Democratic Party soon became known as the Byrd Organization. Most of the power of the Byrd Democrats rested in the rural areas of the Commonwealth, and they wanted to centralize power in an effort to prevent significant opposition. He refused to put much funding into public schools, and soon became one of the most vocal advocates for racial segregation. Byrd strongly opposed the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that the doctrine of “separate but equal” for schools for “Black and Whites” was “inherently unconstitutional.” His response to this ruling was that it was “stomping on the rights of the states to control their own schools.” Byrd and his leaders developed constitutional amendments and legislation in an effort to cut off state funding to any locality that integrated its schools, and allowed the state to price tuition grants of students going to public schools. This strategy adopted by the Byrd Organization was deemed “Massive Resistance,” and as a result many schools were shut down between 1958 and 1959 in an attempt to block
The General Assembly meets in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, in the Virginia State Capitol Building. They meet each year on the second Wednesday in January for 60 days in even-numbered years and for 30 days in odd-numbered years, and again in …show more content…
Byrd was the political leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia. His faction of the Democratic Party soon became known as the Byrd Organization. Most of the power of the Byrd Democrats rested in the rural areas of the Commonwealth, and they wanted to centralize power in an effort to prevent significant opposition. He refused to put much funding into public schools, and soon became one of the most vocal advocates for racial segregation. Byrd strongly opposed the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that the doctrine of “separate but equal” for schools for “Black and Whites” was “inherently unconstitutional.” His response to this ruling was that it was “stomping on the rights of the states to control their own schools.” Byrd and his leaders developed constitutional amendments and legislation in an effort to cut off state funding to any locality that integrated its schools, and allowed the state to price tuition grants of students going to public schools. This strategy adopted by the Byrd Organization was deemed “Massive Resistance,” and as a result many schools were shut down between 1958 and 1959 in an attempt to block