Governor Yeardley, therefore, called the first representative legislature in America to meet in the little church at Jamestown, July 30, 1619. This first General Assembly of Virginia consisted of the Council, the upper house, and the House of Burgesses, the lower house. This group was the first popular assembly in the New World. There was a delay in the initial meeting because the local elections had to be postponed until after the plowing and sowing of seeds had been done. The session lasted six days and then adjourned because of the severe heat. The session began with a prayer by the minister and the Governor and Council members sat in the front pews of the church. John Pory was the presiding officer of this first General Assembly and he was called the Speaker. Each burgess was called by name and then given the oath of supremacy in recognition of the sovereignty of King James I. After the oath had been taken, he officially entered the Assembly. Two burgesses were refused membership in the Assembly due to an unusual land patent condition. One of these prospective burgesses had been legally excused from obeying colonial laws by his land grant terms. The action of refusal was significant because it created the precedent that the Virginia Assembly has the right to decide the qualifications of its own members and to expel members even if they have been sworn in and admitted to the Assembly if conditions so warrant. Although the session was very brief, much was accomplished, including the acceptance of the charter by the General Assembly members. Since this charter was the foundation of the laws used by the General Assembly to rule the Virginia Colony, it was called a constitution and was the first written constitution promulgated in our country. Other petitions presented at this time are indications of the trend of thought of these political leaders: former grants of land should be confirmed and new grants made to the early settlers, shares of land should be given to all male children born in Virginia, rents of the ministers' lands should be made payable in commodities instead of money, a sub-treasurer should be appointed to live in the colony, and men should be sent to build a college in the colony. Other laws passed by the Assembly itself concerned the punishment of idlers, gamblers and drunkards, the payment of church dues, the religious duty of the colonists, the regulation of trade, the relations of whites to Indians, the regulation of the duties of ministers and the conduct of servants. The Assembly also levied a tax of one pound of tobacco on every male inhabitant over sixteen years of age, the tax to be used for the payment of services of its officers (speaker, clerk, sergeant and provost marshal of James City). The Governor then adjourned the Assembly until March 1, 1620.