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North Carolina Legislature Biography & Facts

The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Carolina State Legislative Building in Raleigh. The General Assembly drafts and legislates the state laws of North Carolina, also known as the General Statutes. The General Assembly is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the North Carolina House of Representatives (formerly called the North Carolina House of Commons until 1868) and the North Carolina Senate. Since 1868, the House has had 120 members, while the Senate has had 50 members. There are no term limits for either chamber. Both chambers have two-year terms and are currently controlled by the Republican Party, by three-fifths majority necessary to override vetoes. History Colonial period The North Carolina legislature traces its roots to the first assembly for the "County of Albemarle", which was convened in 1665 by Governor William Drummond. Albemarle County was the portion of the British colony of Carolina (under the control of the "Lords Proprietors" before becoming a royal province in 1729) that would eventually become North Carolina. From approximately 1666 to 1697, the governor, his council, and representatives of various precincts and towns, elected by male freeholders, sat together as a unicameral legislature. By 1697, this evolved into a bicameral body, with the governor and his council as the upper house, and the House of Burgesses as the elected lower house. The House, sometimes known simply as "the Assembly", could only meet when called by the governor, but it was allowed to set its own rules and to elect its own Speaker. The House also controlled the salary of the governor and withheld that salary when the governor displeased a majority of the House. Naturally, conflicts between the governor and the legislature were frequent. According to one early compilation of the "Laws of North Carolina", the first "General Biennial Assembly" was held "at the House of Capt. Richard Sanderson, at Little-River begun on the 17th day of November, 1715 and continued by several Adjournments, until the 19th Day of January, 1715 [sic]". Revolution and early statehood In 1774 and 1775, the people of the colony elected a provincial congress, independent of the royal governor, as the American Revolution began. Most of its members were also members of what would be the last House of Burgesses. There would be five provincial congresses. The fifth Congress approved the first constitution in 1776. With the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, the United States became an independent nation with different legislatures in each colony. Because of the history of distrust of the executive, the North Carolina constitution firmly established the General Assembly, as it was now called, as the most powerful branch of the state government. The bicameral legislature, whose members would all be elected by the people, would itself elect all the officers of the executive and judicial branches. As William S. Powell wrote in North Carolina: A History, "The legislative branch henceforth would have the upper hand. The governor would be the creature of the assembly, elected by it and removable by it. ... The governor could not take any important step without the advice and consent of the 'council of state,' and he had no voice in the appointment or removal of [council of state members]." This constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people. The Congress simply adopted it and elected Richard Caswell, the last president of the Congress, as acting governor until the new legislature was elected and seated. The constitution provided for more rights for freedmen and free men of color. The 9th Amendment on the 1776 constitution states, "That no freeman shall be convicted of any crime, but by the unanimous verdict of a jury of good lawful men, in open court, as heretofore used." Free men of color with sufficient property were allowed to vote. The first North Carolina General Assembly was convened on April 7, 1777, in New Bern, North Carolina. It consisted of Senate with one member from each county of 38 existing counties and one district (Washington District which later became part of the Southwest Territory and then Tennessee) and a House of Commons with two members representing each of the existing 38 counties, plus one member from each of the large towns/districts (Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Salisbury, and Wilmington Districts). Districts continued to be represented in the Senate until 1835. Only land-owning (100 acres (0.4 km2) for the House of Commons and 300 acres (1.2 km2) for the Senate), Protestant men could serve. The first 18 General Assemblies met in various locations, including New Bern, Hillsboro, Halifax, Smithfield, and Wake Court House, Fayetteville. It was not until 1794 that the General Assembly met in the new state capital, Raleigh where it has met ever since. Following Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831, the state legislature restricted many of the rights the 1776 Constitution provided for black people, making it illegal to teach a slave how to read or write. They also narrowed rights of free people of color, rescinding their franchise and the right to bear arms, and forbidding them from attending school or learning to read and write, as well as forbidding them from preaching in public. The Constitutional Convention of 1835 retained the 1776 Constitution, but made several amendments to it. Going forward, the governor would be elected by the people, but the legislature elected all other officials, including US Senators. Amendments set the number of senators at 50 and the number of commoners (representatives to the House) at 120. Senators were to be elected from districts representing approximately equal numbers of citizens, rather than by geographic counties. Members of the House were still elected by county, but more populous counties were entitled to more representatives. The North Carolina General Assembly met from 1861 to 1865 as part of the Confederate States of America. Reconstruction Era In 1868, a new constitution was passed by the Reconstruction era legislature, a biracial body dominated by Republicans. It changed the name of the House of Commons to the House of Representatives. It established the office of lieutenant governor. Previously, the speaker of the Senate was the constitutional successor to the governor in case of death or resignation. Property qualifications for holding office were abolished in order to enlarge opportunity. Finally, the legislature made executive officers and judges subject to popular election rather than appointment by the legislature. African-American men were first elected to the state legislature in 1868, including Henry Epps, Abraham H. Galloway, and John A. Hyman in the Senate and Parker D. 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