By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A NEW book tracing the origins and evolution of the House of Assembly from 1729 to 1900 has been released by Free National Movement Central and South Abaco candidate Jeremy Sweeting.

Titled The House of Assembly: The Journey of Bahamian Democracy, the first of two planned volumes explores the establishment of the legislature under Governor Woodes Rogers and key moments that shaped the country’s political development.

Mr Sweeting said while historians such as the late Dr Gail Saunders and Patrice Williams have documented The Bahamas’ broader history, his work focuses specifically on the creation and growth of the House of Assembly.

“I'm currently researching and writing the second volume,” he said. “This first volume covers from 1729 when the House of Assembly was established under Governor Woods Rogers in his second stint, and it goes right up until the end of the 19th century, about 1900. The second volume will pick up in 1901 and will come to the present day.”

The book lists the first members of Parliament from 1729 to 1890, when representation was limited to New Providence, Eleuthera, and Harbour Island. It highlights notable political families, including the Pinders, Wyllys/Andersons, Adderleys, and Sawyers.

The volume also examines major political conflicts, including those between the original settlers of 1648 and Loyalist refugees from America, the abolition of slavery, and the disendowment of the Anglican Church.

Mr Sweeting said the two volumes together will chart the gradual expansion of voting rights and the steady dismantling of racial, gender, and class barriers in Bahamian politics.

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and former Attorney General Sean McWeeney wrote the forewords. In his foreword, Mr Ingraham called the work an “excellent addition” to the retelling of The Bahamas’ evolution from a “small colonial outpost” to a “burgeoning democracy.”

The House of Assembly: The Journey of Bahamian Democracy is available at Logos Bookstore.