The

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

first started in 1751, but was not active until 1777, when Georgia became one of the Thirteen Colonies and broke away from Great Britain. The 2nd Georgia General Assembly followed two years later. It took place sometime in January, in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, which was the capital of Georgia at the time. The capital was moved to its present location, Atlanta, in 1868. The Assembly has been held once every two years starting in 1777. The Assembly elected the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate.

Overview

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is the larger of the two chambers. Its 180 members represent districts from across the state, and it is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the entire membership.

Speaker of the House

The Speaker has always been a member of the majority political party and has the power to schedule debates, to vote, and to assign members to committees.

Senators

The state senate is very similar to the house, but the senate is a smaller body, with fifty-six members who represent districts from around the state.

Lieutenant governor

The chief officer of the senate is the lieutenant governor. Unlike the Speaker, who is elected by the members of the house, the lieutenant governor is elected by all the voters of the state. The first Lieutenant Governor was

Melvin E. Thompson Melvin Ernest Thompson (May 1, 1903 – October 3, 1980) was an American educator and politician from Millen in the U.S. state of Georgia. Generally known as M.E. Thompson during his political career, he served as the 70th Governor of Georg ...

, elected in 1947. Before that, the position never existed in Georgia.

= Governor

= Archibald Bulloch, elected on April 15, 1776, was the first official

Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...

. Technically,

William Ewen William Ewen (April 15, 1720 – January 24, 1777) was the first president of the Council of Safety of Georgia during the American Revolution. He is considered the state's first chief executive, although the first chief executive under a proper co ...

George Walton George Walton (c. 1749 – February 2, 1804), a Founding Father of the United States, signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also served as the second chief executive of Georgia. Early life Wal ...

, and

were governor before, but Bulloch was the first after the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. His term ended on March 4, 1777.

Terms

At that time terms were uncertain and the governors picked how long their terms would be. It was not until May 1777 when the people finally decided to make governor terms one year. This was because the people were afraid of too much government control based on past governors' loyalty to Great Britain, and gave the legislature the most power, severely limiting the governor's power and time. Also at this time the governors could only have one term, they could not go for reelection. In 1789 it was changed to two-year terms. Eventually the terms became four years and that stuck, because now every Governor and President have four-year terms.

Consecutive terms

Consecutive terms were not allowed for 10 years. In 1789 terms were one year. Before 1789 term lengths were picked by the governor, mostly they were two or three months long. Terms after 1789 were one year long but were not classified as "terms". The first actual term was in 1857 when

Joseph E. Brown Joseph Emerson Brown (April 15, 1821 – November 30, 1894), often referred to as Joe Brown, was an American attorney and politician, serving as the 42nd Governor of Georgia from 1857 to 1865, the only governor to serve four terms. He also se ...

served terms from November 6, 1857, to June 17, 1865. That was the first consecutive term, but consecutive terms were allowed since 1789. From 1941 to 1977 consecutive terms were not allowed; after 1977 consecutive terms were again allowed.

References

External links

*http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3164 *http://www.legis.ga.gov/en-US/default.aspx *http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3164 *http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/govterm.htm *http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/ga02.asp *http://www.sos.ga.gov/elections/constitution_2011.pdf {{Georgia General Assemblies Georgia (U.S. state) legislative sessions