List of governors of Pennsylvania
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox official post The governor of Pennsylvania is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the state's national guard.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 7</ref>
The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to approve or veto bills passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly,<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 15</ref> as well as to convene the legislature.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 12</ref> The governor may grant pardons except in cases of impeachment, but only when recommended by the Board of Pardons.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 9</ref>
There have been seven presidents and 48 governors of Pennsylvania, with two governors (Robert E. Pattison and Gifford Pinchot) serving non-consecutive terms, totaling 55 terms in both offices. The longest term was that of the first governor, Thomas Mifflin, who served three full terms as governor in addition to two years as President of the Continental Congress. The shortest term belonged to John C. Bell Jr., who served only 19 days as acting governor after his predecessor, Edward Martin, resigned.
The current governor is Josh Shapiro, who took office on January 17, 2023.
Governors
Template:For Pennsylvania was one of the original Thirteen Colonies and was admitted as a state on December 12, 1787.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Before it declared its independence, Pennsylvania was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Presidents of the Supreme Executive Council
The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 created the Supreme Executive Council as the state's executive branch, with a president as its head.<ref>1776 Constitution § 3</ref> The president was chosen annually by the council, though with no specific term dates.<ref>1776 Constitution § 19</ref>
The constitution created the position of "vice-president", though no provision was made if the office of the president became vacant, which occurred four times later. Contemporary sources continue to label the chief executive in such times as the vice-president, without any notion of succeeding in the presidency. One acting president, George Bryan, was subsequently recognized later as a full-fledged governor, due to his acting as president for over six months.
Governors of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
The 1790 constitution abolished the council and replaced the president with a governor,<ref>1790 Constitution article II, § 1</ref> and established a three-year term for governor commencing on the third Tuesday of the December following the election, with governors not allowed to serve more than nine out of any twelve years.<ref>1790 Constitution article IV, § 3</ref> The 1838 constitution moved the start of the term to the third Tuesday of the January following the election, and allowed governors to only serve six out of any nine years.<ref>1838 Constitution article II, § 3</ref> The 1874 constitution lengthened the term to four years, and prohibited governors from succeeding themselves.<ref>1874 Constitution article IV, § 3</ref> The current constitution of 1968 changed this to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms, with no lifetime limit.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 3</ref>
Under the 1968 constitution, Milton Shapp was the first governor to serve two terms, and Tom Corbett was the first incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid.
If the office of governor becomes vacant through death, resignation, or conviction on impeachment, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term; if the office is only temporarily vacant due to disability of the governor, the lieutenant governor only acts out the duties of governor.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 13</ref> Should both offices be vacant, the president pro tempore of the state senate becomes governor.<ref>PA Constitution article IV, § 14</ref> The position of a lieutenant governor was created in the 1874 constitution; prior to then, the speaker of the senate would act as governor in cases of vacancy. Originally, the lieutenant governor could only act as governor; it was not until the 1968 constitution that the lieutenant governor could actually become the sitting governor in that fashion. The office of governor has been vacant for an extended period once before, a 17-day gap in 1848 between the resignation of the previous governor and the swearing in of his acting successor. Governors and lieutenant governors are elected on the same political party ticket.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Timeline
| Timeline of Pennsylvania governors |
|
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1500 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:20 right:130 left:10 AlignBars = late DateFormat = x.y Period = from:1776.90 till:{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+{{#time:m}}/6}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1780 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1777 Define $now = {{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+{{#time:m}}/12}} Colors = id:5year value:rgb(0.8, 0.8, 0.8) id:0year value:rgb(0.6, 0.6, 0.6) id:noparty value:rgb(0.7, 0.7, 0.7) id:demrep value:rgb(0, 0.5, 0) id:quid value:rgb(1, 0.6, 0.33) id:jackson value:rgb(0.87, 0.93, 1) id:dem value:rgb(0.2, 0.2, 1) id:antimas value:rgb(1, 1, 0.6) id:whig value:rgb(0.84, 0.74, 0.34) id:rep value:rgb(0.91, 0.11, 0.14) id:seat1 value:rgb(0.60,0.10,0.10) id:blank value:white BarData = barset:GovernorLine barset:Governors #barset:blankline PlotData= width:1 align:right fontsize:S shift:(-3,-4) anchor:from fontsize:8 color:black barset:GovernorLine from:1792 till:end text:Governors width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till fontsize:10 barset:Governors from:1777.18 till:1778.39 color:noparty text:"Thomas Wharton Jr." from:1778.39 till:1778.98 color:noparty text:"George Bryan" from:1778.98 till:1781.87 color:noparty text:"Joseph Reed" from:1781.87 till:1782.85 color:noparty text:"William Moore" from:1782.85 till:1785.8 color:noparty text:"John Dickinson" from:1785.8 till:1788.85 color:noparty text:"Benjamin Franklin" from:1792.37 till:1799.96 color:demrep text:"Thomas Mifflin" from:1805 till:1808.97 color:quid text:"Thomas McKean" from:1808.97 till:1817.96 color:demrep text:"Simon Snyder" from:1817.96 till:1820.97 color:demrep text:"William Findlay" from:1820.97 till:1823.96 color:demrep text:"Joseph Hiester" from:1825 till:1829.96 color:jackson text:"John Andrew Shulze" from:1829.96 till:1835.96 color:dem text:"George Wolf" from:1835.96 till:1839.04 color:antimas text:"Joseph Ritner" from:1839.04 till:1845.06 color:dem text:"David R. Porter" from:1845.06 till:1848.52 color:dem text:"Francis R. Shunk" from:1848.52 till:1852.05 color:whig text:"William F. Johnston" from:1852.05 till:1855.04 color:dem text:"William Bigler" from:1855.04 till:1858.05 color:whig text:"James Pollock" from:1858.05 till:1861.04 color:dem text:"William F. Packer" from:1861.04 till:1867.04 color:rep text:"Andrew Gregg Curtin" from:1867.04 till:1873.06 color:rep text:"John W. Geary" from:1873.06 till:1879.06 color:rep text:"John F. Hartranft" from:1879.06 till:1883.04 color:rep text:"Henry M. Hoyt" from:1891.05 till:1895.04 color:dem text:"Robert E. Pattison" from:1887.05 till:1891.05 color:rep text:"James A. Beaver" from:1895.04 till:1899.05 color:rep text:"Daniel H. Hastings" from:1899.05 till:1903.05 color:rep text:"William A. Stone" from:1903.05 till:1907.04 color:rep text:"Samuel W. Pennypacker" from:1907.04 till:1911.05 color:rep text:"Edwin Sydney Stuart" from:1911.05 till:1915.05 color:rep text:"John K. Tener" from:1915.05 till:1919.06 color:rep text:"Martin Grove Brumbaugh" from:1919.06 till:1923.04 color:rep text:"William Cameron Sproul" from:1931.05 till:1935.04 color:rep text:"Gifford Pinchot" from:1927.05 till:1931.05 color:rep text:"John Stuchell Fisher" from:1935.04 till:1939.05 color:dem text:"George Howard Earle III" from:1939.05 till:1943.05 color:rep text:"Arthur James" from:1943.05 till:1947.01 color:rep text:"Edward Martin" from:1947.01 till:1947.06 color:rep text:"John C. Bell Jr." from:1947.06 till:1951.04 color:rep text:"James H. Duff" from:1951.04 till:1955.05 color:rep text:"John S. Fine" from:1955.05 till:1959.05 color:dem text:"George M. Leader" from:1959.05 till:1963.04 color:dem text:"David L. Lawrence" from:1963.04 till:1967.05 color:rep text:"William Scranton" from:1967.05 till:1971.05 color:rep text:"Raymond P. Shafer" from:1971.05 till:1979.04 color:dem text:"Milton Shapp" from:1979.04 till:1987.05 color:rep text:"Dick Thornburgh" from:1987.05 till:1995.05 color:dem text:"Bob Casey Sr." from:1995.05 till:2001.76 color:rep text:"Tom Ridge" from:2001.76 till:2003.06 color:rep text:"Mark Schweiker" from:2003.06 till:2011.05 color:dem text:"Ed Rendell" from:2011.05 till:2015.05 color:rep text:"Tom Corbett" from:2015.05 till:2023.05 color:dem text:"Tom Wolf" from:2023.05 till:$now color:dem text:"Josh Shapiro" LineData= from:1788.85 till:1792.37 atpos:865 color:noparty width:6 # TMi noparty from:1799.96 till:1805 atpos:847 color:demrep width:6 # TMc demrep from:1823.96 till:1825 atpos:776 color:demrep width:6 # JAS demrep from:1883.04 till:1887.05 atpos:547 color:dem width:6 # REP 1st term from:1923.04 till:1927.05 atpos:388 color:rep width:6 # GP 1st term layer:back # This section creates the vertical lines. at:1780.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1785.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1790.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1795.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1800.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1805.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1810.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1815.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1820.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1825.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1830.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1835.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1840.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1845.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1850.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1855.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1860.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1865.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1870.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1875.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1880.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1885.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1890.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1895.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1900.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1905.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1910.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1915.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1920.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1925.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1930.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1935.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1940.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1945.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1950.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1955.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1960.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1965.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1970.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1975.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1980.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1985.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1990.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1995.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2000.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2005.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2010.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2015.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2020.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2025.00 width:0.1 color:5year</timeline> |
See also
- Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States#Pennsylvania
- List of Pennsylvania gubernatorial elections
- List of Pennsylvania state legislatures
- List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania
Notes
References
- General
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Specific
External links
Template:Governors and Presidents of Pennsylvania Template:Lists of US Governors Template:US state navigation box Template:John Dickinson Template:Benjamin Franklin Template:Pennsylvania statewide elected officials Template:Featured list