Coxe, senator, and all of our distinguished guest, welcome. I have a great honor to serve as chief executive officer for preservation virginia. Deskhalf of president ial preservation virginia board of trustees, i share our appreciation for friends and partners gathered today and Technology Leadership of the administration, the General Assembly, american revolution, and the James Northam foundation. As special appreciation to our partners in the National Park service, the representatives, and members of the family society. Today, we commemorate the events that occurred on the site 47 years ago the distinguished speakers who follow me will capture the importance of these proceedings and the direct influence still felt today. Hope it will define this place with the persistent efforts of women who ensured its preservation. Within these walls would have been lost were not for the vision and dedication of women. 1889, they founded the association for the preservation of virginia antiquity. The goal was to save and restore landscapes and buildings that embodied the tradition. The women established an organization, the first in the nation. Over 130 years ago and have saved more than 500,000 virginia Historic Places. Never straying from their vision, they were successful entertainment 22 acres, including the 17th century turkey tower and the foundations of the old churches. Within that first decade, the ladies convinced congress to build a sea wall jamestown from further erosion. Preservation virginia founders built alliances with many family descendents and descendent societies represented here to construct this church, monuments and gates in advance of the anniversary. Connections between these organizations and this place of historic memory remain resolute. In the early years, three women launched an excavation to find the foundation where the First Assembly met. Their careful notes provided clues to marianna hartley, jamestown rediscoverys senior archaeologist who, in 2015, led only the second archaeological investigation of this church. They carefully peeled back layers of concrete and brick to find evidence of the 16th 17 church and its Foundation Evidence of the 1627 church and its foundation. There were looking at the cobblestone that literally an representsguratively the foundations of our democracy. Iny unearth the various part that assembly. At historic jamestown and all our programs, we embrace the belief that Historic Places offer singular opportunities to connect present and future generations with all the aspects of our complex history. Standing where history happens offers experiences that are thoughtprovoking. Our preservation efforts strive to capture the complexity of our history and tell the stories of the widely known fingers widely known figures john smith, chief powhatan, governor yardley, and indian women who lived within the walls during the early years, and a teenage girl we called jane, whose butchered remains were found, and an angolan woman captured and brought to jamestown on an english ship. In the 50th anniversary, ongoing in 1984 byitiated dr. Williams and his team. We expand the narrative to andect the perspective follow their footsteps here. Archaeological remains of the 1617 church survive. James Austen Powell remarked on the womens legacy, unselfish devotion. Today we commemorate the First Assembly in 1619, and honor all the men and women who ensured we could stand here with the seeds of our democracy. Thank you and welcome. [applause] Governor Northam good morning and thank you for being here for this correct incredible commemoration tommy good morning at thank you for being here for this incredible commemoration. Historic jamestown, where we are now seated, includes the reconstruction of the jamestown settlement across the causeway and about 22 miles down the colonial parkway, where freedom was ultimately won in 1779, when the world turned upside down at yorktown. This venue includes the First Permanent english settlement, when 104 brave young men and boys landed may 13, 1607. The site includes not just the first english settlement, but also includes the reconstructed remains of colonial virginia at the james river and york river you will find sites directly related to the construction of this nation. And others that involve its near destruction. On this Jamestown Island itself, the site of the first english colony, the earthworks of three civil war forts still exist. When you grow up surrounded by history, you simply accept it as part of your surroundings, it is just home, and this is my home. That is why, when you see a person in the supermarket locally in leggings or a tricorn hat, you must think nothing of it. It is just part of being home. The same goes for native americans and traditional native dress or women in large, elaborate dresses of bygone eras. It is just home. Bygone is what we do. History for many of us is a preoccupation and an occupation. It is a central part of our present and we hope we will always be hope it will always be a respectful part of our future. Our neighbors explore, teach, and they preserve history as a living. Elizabeth, i want to thank you for the many years of what you have done for preservation virginia. Elizabeth and i spent a lot of quality time in 2007 and she has done a marvelous job. We took on the 400th anniversary of Representative Government with all the efforts to better understand the emergence of slavery, the vital role of women then the effects of this colony on indigenous and indigenous native americans. It is a challenge to do better. We have worked at a very hard. Considerable thought has gone into it. I honestly do not know what they did in 1719. I recall what they did in 1819, because i was here. [laughter] but when the 20th century arrived, news accounts indicate the commemoration mostly involve a sustained salute of our english groups. We do appreciate our english roots, it is foundational to our law and our political structure, but now we understand so much more, and it is not by accident we have worked at that. We have examined events that occurred here, including their consequences, intended and unintended, and we have done so much with greater sensitivity and honesty. It seems to me it is our duty, it is our stewardship that we owe each other, it is our stewardship that we owe america. And then, tell it all as best we can, unvarnished. There is history, and there is metairi there is history, and there is memory. I will leave it to the scholars to make distinctions between history and memory, but the two enjoyed a close relationship. Someone once wrote that memory remains a subject of reflection and anxiety, not the least because, as people live longer, more survive without connections to the past, and i identify with that. I cant remember things like i used to. Technology and a far more open approach to history may have changed that. I hope so. Clearly people yearn to better understand their ancestry, but we need to pull apart and closely examine our national dna. Historical milestones including commemorations such as we are celebrating today offer us an opportunity for greater insight and more indepth understanding of our ancestry. We want to remember. We want to commemorate. We want to respect our heritage. It is an honor to be joined by a contemporary leader who embraces the heritage of our parliamentary and legislative form of government. It is my pleasure to introduce to you sir david, former clerk of the house of commons, advisor to the house of commons of the United Kingdom and advisor on all its procedure and businesses. He is the 50th person to hold your role. Sometimes i would need him in the senate of virginia. Sir david hosted a commemoration delegation and has been keenly interested in the history of jamestown and all relevant matters of today. We are honored to welcome sir david to offer remarks on the intersection of our international relations, and our impact on the democracy worldwide. Sir david. [applause] david thank you for that generous, generous greeting. I know some of you must have difficulty seeing me staring into the sun, so you can shut your eyes. There is nothing to see. [laughter] so on this day, on this very day 400 years ago, and in this very place, something very special happened, the first meeting of an elected assembly and what was then the new world. It was a real assembly, not the ceremonial meeting like this, or a ritual, assertive, discursive and ultimately productive. And it sat here at the hottest time of the year, hot enough to kill one of its members, and we all have some idea of what the weather would have been like through those hot days. And a year later, a very similar assembly was held in bermuda. But it is not just in a spirit of antiquarian as him that this event 400 years ago needs to be celebrated and acknowledged, because it is important not only to you all here in virginia, not only throughout the United States and all its state legislatures which give your country its name, but throughout the world, wherever the idea has taken root that people wish to be governed by laws made by their own elected representatives. That is Representative Democracy. So Representative Democracy is not a perfect system of government. It is not the rule of the saints, not even in new england. The 22 burgesses who gathered here for hundred years ago were not exceptionally righteous or upright men, and they were all meant. They were no doubt liable by all the friendship shown to their frailties shown to their successors and elected assemblies that followed all over the world. But the ideal of Representative Democracy, first expressed 2500 years ago in athens, and here again in jamestown for hundred years ago, has survived those centuries of bruising contact with real people. The Jamestown Assembly was the first child of westminster, and a first child occupies a very special place in a parents heart. Across the United States, siblings to the north in canada, south across central and latin america, across africa and asia and as far as australia. There are over 170 members of the interparliamentary union, the union of parliaments and assemblies, and over 70 parliamentary commonwealth association, whose thai i am tie i am wearing today. Forgive the garish colors. Greenland has a parliament, at 64 Degrees North and 52 Degrees South as the Worlds Largest the worlds smallest parliament, and the Falkland Islands, which meets in a building smaller than this. It has eight elected members, but a vigorous democratic tradition, as i have experienced. So this idea, obstructed by authoritarians, resisted by elites, fought by centex, fought by cynics, sometimes bullied, but again and again it rises, the idea of a freely elected representative assembly, wherever people seek freedom and self rule. In the 1950s and 1960s, it happened in the former european colonies in africa and asia. In the 1990s, and central and eastern europe, in the countries freed from soviet control. And most recently, in the countries of the arab spring. And as we meet on the streets of hong kong, the independence of the legislative council, legco, is the principal demand of demonstrators. In sudan, people are fighting and dying for an assembly. So they have one simple remedy, for which thousands have fought and died over the years, to elect their own representatives. And assisting those demands should be a common endeavor between the great representative democracies, foremost among them the United States and the United Kingdom. It is not and it never was quite that simple. As a descendent of british emancipator william wilberforce, im also aware you are marking here the arrival for hundred years ago of the first enslaved african men and women in virginia. In 1619, there was no Representative Democracy for virginias women, nor was there justice for those who already occupied the land. And having an assembly did not and could not even begin to right those wrongs. We also know that around the world, Representative Democracy is under attack from many Different Directions. It will not survive on its own, unless it is defended and sustained, and if need be constructively criticized by engaged citizens, which means us. Modern assemblies are different in forms. Many have sophisticated buildings and staff, temples of democracy, such as jeffersons wonderful capitol in richmond. But they are not different in substance, and the meeting here for hundred years ago of two dozen hot and bothered early settlers in this Little Church marks the humble start of a very big idea, that the best form of that the best form of government is a Representative Democracy and this is the best protection against tyranny. That is why i am profoundly honored to be bringing you tongs from the mother bringing you greetings. Lowlying, marshy field on the banks of a great river. Freedomn echoes that and the rule of law. , july 1619, was a very special day and so is today. Thank you. [applause] sir david, thank you very much for sharing those insightful remarks. I had a number of takeaways but one that stood out, perhaps we should emulate the Falkland Islands and reduce our legislature to eight members. I am trying to figure out who the other seven are going to be. [laughter] it is my pleasure to introduce a very distinguished gentleman and a friend of mine for many years. Ivernor Ralph Northam and have known one another for many years and we share a common alma mater, which happens to be one of the outstanding universities in the commonwealth of virginia. Sometimes known as Virginia Military institute. Our professional interests took us in Different Directions in life. Governor northam went on to be recognized as a skilled pediatric neurologist serving our country as a doctor as i struggled to be a humble smalltown country lawyer. Our careers circled back toward each other in cause of publicly elected service. In some respects, that follows a pattern that began 400 years ago at jamestown. Then, everyone knew each other, for better or for worse. They knew each others strengths, habits, inclinations, all of the attributes that go into the human character and shape of our personal conduct. Think vmi did a world of good for both of us. Everyone gets to show gets shoved into a same space great discipline is imposed upon you. Begin to realize human , asership takes many forms do human ideas. Democracy, you must work out your differences, having workable system grounded on sound principle, ordered by triedandtrue is vitally important to that effort. Partisan rhetoric is a distraction no matter from whom it comes. Governor northam would agree with me, i believe, that we should all be respectful to our virginia ancestors for having set in motion a system of Representative Democracy that enables our people, our citizens and americans to resolve disputes, remain safe and prosper. We are all beneficiaries of that legacy. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinguished honor and pleasure to introduce to you his excellency the 73rd governor of the commonwealth of virginia ralph s northam. [applause] gov. Northam good morning. It is a tremendous privilege to be with all of you here today. Thank you so much for the kind introduction. It is good to share the stage with you and thank you for your leadership in virginia. It is also good to see our lieutenant governor. Thank you for being here in our attorney general. And our attorney general. To our legislators, thank you for your attendance this morning and thank you for your leadership in virginia. I served in the state senate along with my friend the senator and presided over that body as lieutenant governor. That gave me a deep appreciation for the history of the senate as part of our General Assembly. I appreciate senator norman service and leadership in the senate and i feel privileged to be here with him and all of you today commemorating such important events in our state and our countrys history. We are gathered here this morning at the spot where 400 years ago, Representative Democracy began on this continent. We look back across these 400 years as the colony of jamestown and from our perspective, in 2019, it is hard to imagine what life was like in that colony. It is hard to imagine now, when the ideas of america and democracy are so rooted in our minds that jamestown was an experiment that nearly failed. Birth not founded to give to a new way of governing. Or to be an incubator for our lofty ideals of freedom. It was founded to make money for investors and establish a foothold on a new continent. On from agued early high death rate and a martial law style of governance that did not make virginia a very attractive place to come. Potential colonists were not eager to go to virginia. Colony, the men running the Virginia Colony started to make changes to make the place more attractive. With ideas planted by sir edwin sanz, they started talking about a different system of government. They directed the creation of a General Assembly. 30, in very day, july 1619, 22 burgesses met here in this place, this church. This Church Stands on the on the one of which they met. Like today, it was hot. It was humid. For six days, they sweated out the details of what would become our first Representative Government. They built a framework to settle disputes,