The 1st New Brunswick Legislative Assembly represented New Brunswick between January 3, 1786, and 1792. The lower house was the Legislative Assembly and the upper house was named the Legislative Council.
The assembly sat at the pleasure of the Governor of New Brunswick, Thomas Carleton. [1] The first and second sessions were held at the Mallard House, an inn in Saint John. Subsequent sessions were held in Fredericton.
Amos Botsford was chosen as Speaker Of The House.
The lower house was the Legislative Assembly and the upper house was named the Legislative Council. [1] The governor of New Brunswick was responsible for the appointment of the Legislative Council. [1]
The General Assembly of New Brunswick had three distinct constitutional elements:
In this period, the General Assembly met from two to ten weeks each year and it was then that the elected representatives of the voters could influence public policy. When New Brunswick had a bicameral General Assembly, new legislation had to be read three times and approved by the House of Assembly and then read three times and approved by the Legislative Council. Generally, legislation originated in the House of Assembly sometimes.
The Loyalist Migration to Canada (1783-1784) [2] followed the American Revolutionary War brought about 12,000 settlers, chiefly from New York, to this region. Convinced that the government and people of Nova Scotia were alien to their interest, they sought the creation of a new province. Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester urged their claims at London and in 1784, their desire became reality. In 1785, an election was held and on 3rd of January 1786, the first legislature of New Brunswick met in the Mallard House, which at that time, Saint John, New Brunswick's leading hostelry once stood on this site.
Acts that were commonly passed in the 1st New Brunswick Legislative Assembly generally centered around the topics of law and money. As an example, "An Act For Regulating Pilots".
The following are the members for the 1st New Brunswick Legislative:
Electoral District | Name | First elected |
---|---|---|
Saint John [a] | William Pagan | 1786 |
Jonathan Bliss | 1786 | |
Christopher Billop | 1786 | |
Ward Chipman | 1786 | |
John McGeorge | 1786 | |
Stanton Hazard | 1786 | |
York | Daniel Murray | 1786 |
Isaac Atwood | 1786 | |
Daniel Lyman | 1786 | |
Edward Stelle | 1786 | |
Westmorland | Amos Botsford | 1786 |
Charles Dixon | 1786 | |
Samuel Gay | 1786 | |
Andrew Kinnear | 1786 | |
Kings | John Coffin | 1786 |
Ebenezer Foster | 1786 | |
Queens | Samuel Dickinson | 1786 |
John Yeamans | 1786 | |
Charlotte | William Paine | 1786 |
James Campbell | 1786 | |
Robert Pagan | 1786 | |
Peter Clinch | 1786 | |
Northumberland | Elias Hardy | 1786 |
William Davidson | 1786 | |
Sunbury | William Hubbard | 1786 |
Richard Vandeburg | 1786 |