1790 Constitution
A constitutional convention was called in 1789 and a new state constitution was adopted the following year. The 1790 Constitution did away with the Supreme Executive Council and vested supreme executive power in the office of Governor. On 21 December 1790 Thomas Mifflin, the last President of Pennsylvania, took office as the State's first Governor. (The title of Governor had been used during the Colonial era, although it referred to the appointed representative of the monarch or the Proprietor, rather than to an elected official.) The executive branch of the state government has been headed by a governor since that time. The 1790 Constitution made no provision for a Lieutenant Governor. Upon the death or resignation of the Governor the office would be assumed by the Speaker of the State Senate. (This position no longer exists.) The office of Lieutenant Governor was created by the 1873 State Constitution and first occupied (by John Latta) in 1875.
Read more about this topic: Supreme Executive Council Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania
Famous quotes containing the word constitution:
“The real essence, the internal qualities, and constitution of even the meanest object, is hid from our view; something there is in every drop of water, every grain of sand, which it is beyond the power of human understanding to fathom or comprehend. But it is evident ... that we are influenced by false principles to that degree as to mistrust our senses, and think we know nothing of those things which we perfectly comprehend.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)