House of Assembly of Jamaica

The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. For many years, the House of Assembly was dominated by the White Jamaican planter class. A law passed in 1840 allowed most blacks and mixed-race men to vote in elections to the Assembly, though the planters continued to dominate it. As a result of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the Assembly voted to abolish self-governance in 1865. Jamaica then became a direct-ruled crown colony.