The

governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...

has a duty to enforce state laws and to convene the legislature. The governor may grant pardons except in cases of

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

. For about 220 years the governor had no power to

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

bills passed by the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Caroli ...

, but a referendum in November 1996 altered the state's constitution, so that North Carolina ceased to be the only state whose governor lacked that power.NC Constitution article II, § 22. There have been three Presidents and 69 governors of North Carolina, with six governors ( Richard Caswell,

Alexander Martin Alexander Martin (October 17, 1740November 2, 1807) was the fourth and seventh Governor of North Carolina from 1782 to 1784 and from 1789 to 1792. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Martin is considered a Founding Father ...

, Benjamin Williams,

Zebulon Baird Vance Zebulon Baird Vance (May 13, 1830 – April 14, 1894) was the 37th and 43rd governor of North Carolina, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War. A prolific writer and noted public speake ...

, William Woods Holden, and

Jim Hunt James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the 69th and 71st Governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governor in the state's history. Hunt is t ...

) serving non-consecutive terms, totaling 78 terms in both offices. The current governor is Democrat

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 200 ...

, who took office on January 1, 2017.

Presidents of the Provincial Council

North Carolina was one of the original

thirteen colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centu ...

, and was admitted as a state on November 21, 1789 . Prior to declaring its independence, North Carolina was a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, wh ...

. The 13-member Provincial Council, renamed the Council of Safety in April 1776, was essentially the executive authority during the second year of the Revolution, and was appointed by the

Provincial Congress The Provincial Congresses were extra-legal legislative bodies established in ten of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution. Some were referred to as congresses while others used different terms for a similar type body. These bodies ...

. The Presidency of the Council and the Presidency of the Congress could each be considered the highest offices in the state during this time, but the council was supreme when the congress was not in session.

List of presidents

Terms and backgrounds of the three men who served as president of the Provincial Council:

Governors from 1776 to 1836

Governors were elected to one-year terms by the state legislature. Governors that serve non-consecutive terms are counted twice.

Governors from 1837 to present

Notes

References

External links

;Official * ; General information *
Governors of North Carolina
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations ...

History of NC Gubernatorial Races
at OurCampaigns.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina, List Of Governors Of *List Governors Lists of state governors of the United States governors