The colony of Virginia was first run by the Virginia Company of London, which chose a governor. In 1609, King James I issued a second charter that allowed private investors to chose a governor. At first, the governor exercised a great deal of control and even imposed a kind of martial law during the Starving Time of 1609-1610. Over time, the colonial government turned to strict racial laws and laws about slavery to maintain control--negative aspects of its leadership.

In 1619, the House of Burgesses became the first elected legislative body in the New World. This was the first year that slaves were also imported into Virginia. The governor chose a council of 6 citizens, and plantations (later counties) chose representatives to the House of Burgesses, which eventually grew in power. Still, wealthy planters generally controlled the power structure in the colony.

In 1676, a man named Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion of former and current indentured servants, who were both white and black, against the government under William Berkeley. This was in part because the indentured servants were angry at the government for not giving them enough protection against Native American attacks. In addition, they felt left out of the power structure. They ousted Berkeley for a time, though he was later reinstated (and finally recalled to England). As a result, the government turned to instituting stricter laws about slavery after the rebellion. Many historians believe that the idea was for the white power structure to convince poor whites to go along with them because black slaves were below poor whites. For example, the House of Burgesses cut off the means by which blacks could gain freedom in the 1700s, and denied freed blacks the right to vote. This turn to making slavery harsher was a negative aspect of the colonial government. 

What were the negative aspects of colonial Virginia's government?

From its inception in 1607, supreme authority over the Virginia Colony rested with the King of England. In practice, however, the colony's distance from Britain, its motherland, made it impossible for a monarch to have a constant eye on its affairs - not an ideal situation. As such, the Virginia Colony practiced a limited form of self-government but with some disadvantages. 

First of all, there were so many governing bodies in Virginia that it created a sense of competition and rivalry. There was the colonial governor, for example, appointed by the king, who theoretically held supreme authority in Virginia. But, from 1619, there was also the House of Burgesses, a group modelled on the British House of Commons. 15 of its 22 members were elected officials but only white males who owned a certain amount of property could run for office. This body only met once a year, to make laws for the colony, but its laws could be vetoed by the governor or by any of the five members of his council. 

The only control that the House of Burgesses had over the governor was the power to determine his wages. This was a strong incentive for the governor to respect the wishes of the Burgesses but, in practice, created a potential for corruption. 

What were the drawbacks of Virginia's colonial government?

Virginia's government was typical of most in the colonies in that it was controlled by royal governor and an assembly that was elected from a relatively small colonial elite. So from a modern perspective or indeed compared to the New England colonies, it was unrepresentative of the population of Virginia as a whole. It was controlled by a small group of large landholders mostly centered in the colony's Tidewater region. This led to considerable cronyism and corruption in Virginia's government, as when Speaker of the House John Robinson loaned more than 100,000 pounds in Virginia currency to friends and political allies who were struggling financially in the 1750s and 1760s. The problem, it was discovered after Robinson's death, was that this money came from the Virginia treasury. Virginia's colonial government, like most others, was also skewed toward the eastern seaboard. Counties further west, though growing dramatically in population, were far less represented in the Assembly than the Tidewater and the Northern Neck. So while Virginians enjoyed a freer government than people in, say, France, their government was, like many others in the colonies, generally unrepresentative of most Virginians and based on the type of personal politics that often led to corruption.