Congress delegates could simultaneously hold colonial assembly seats

Evidence

Philosophical by nature and given to second-guessing, Jefferson agonized during the spring of 1776 over whether to attend the Continental Congress or the elected Virginia colonial assembly, which then called itself a convention. He served in both bodies and their meetings overlapped. Members of Congress often faced such choices. At the time, Congress met as a voluntary association of thirteen separate colonies, each having one vote but as many delegates as it chose to send, with these delegates selected by the colony’s assembly. Those legislatures often tapped their most trusted members to serve in Congress while expecting them to retain their legislative seats. Members could do both because colonial legislatures only met part time while Congress, although ongoing, had enough delegates from each colony that individual ones could come and go without the colony losing representation. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 188

Categorization

• XREF: Structural detail of how colonial legislatures and Congress related bears on modern federalism and dual-officeholding debates.