Plural of burgess; citizens or merchants of a town, especially those with rights to participate in town government.
From Old French 'burgeis', derived from 'burgh' (fortified town), with the plural suffix '-es'; the term emerged in medieval Europe for townspeople with civic privileges.
The burgesses of Virginia (1619) created the first representative parliament in America—they were merchant-class guys who basically invented 'we the people' centuries before the Constitution.
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