Acts and laws, perpetual and temporary, passed by the General Court of the State of New Hampshire for the year ___, 1699-, Concord. The first
European explorations in the area that would become New Hampshire were by Martin Pring in 1603 and Samuel de Champlain in 1605. In 1620 the Council for New
England received a royal grant for land in the area. Portsmouth was founded by farmers and fishermen in 1630. Initially the area received what little
governance was needed from the governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. It finally received its own governor, Benning Wentworth, in 1641.
Following a modest growth in the population, the settlements were declared a separate royal colony in 1679. In 1684 the governance of most of New England
was upended by King James II, who abrogated all existing charters and in 1686 sent Sir Edmund Andros to administer a new colony, the Dominion of New
England, embracing the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. The Andros reign was exceedingly
unpopular, and he was soon sent packing as the new Dominion dissolved amid the general chaos accompanying England’s Glorious Revolution. In 1692 the new
English monarchs, William and Mary, granted a charter for a separate Province of New Hampshire, with a royally appointed governor and a first
appointed and later elected council. The Province of New Hampshire lasted from 1692 to 1776, when New Hampshire became first colony to declare independence
and to establish its own government in January of 1776. In 1788 it became the ninth, and the last necessary state to ratify the new constitution of the
new United States. According to Pimsleur, the first materials issued by the General Court of the Province of New Hampshire were dated Aug., 1699. Its
current bicameral legislature, still formally termed The General Court, is one of the largest representative bodies in the world, with a senate of 24
members and a house of representatives with membership ranging from 375 to 400. All members of both bodies serve two-year terms. Of note, the volumes
of 1821 and 1822 have appendices that listed numerous repealed acts. Of note, the following sessions appeared to not be printed: October and
December 1780; December 1782; February 1783; December 1787; the November 1782 session did not have any laws passed. (Volumes that were part of the Early
State Records collection were digitized from a microfilm copy of the title originally held by the New Hampshire State Library, New Hampshire Historical
Society, Harvard University Library, the Public Record Office in London, and others).
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