The office of lieutenant governor has
a long tradition in the United States. As
early as 1629, the Massachusetts Bay
Charter provided a lieutenant governor
for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dur-
ing the colonial period (1607-1776), the
office of deputy or lieutenant governor
or vice president appeared at one time
or another in all of the English colonies
except Georgia.2
The lieutenant governor's primary pur-
pose in the colonial era was to substitute
for the Crown-appointed governor in his
absence. Usually a senior councillor of
the governor's council, he presided when
the governor was absent. In Maryland,
the second Lord Baltimore never visited
the colony, and from 1648 to 1652, Mary-
land's affairs were handled by a deputy
governor, William Stone.3 During the
Revolutionary War era, the lieutenant
governor was usually presiding officer of
the upper house of the legislature. Thus,
the lieutenant governor's position evolved
from senior councillor of the governor's
council to his position as presiding officer
in many state senates today.
By the time of the federal Constitu-
tional Convention, the constitutions of
Virginia, Massachusetts and South Caro-
lina provided for a lieutenant governor.
Delaware and New Jersey established an
office of vice president in the years before
the federal Constitutional Convention.
1 This article was prepared for the Commis-
sion by Robert K. Whelan, graduate student
in the Department of Government and Politics
at the University of Maryland; B.A., 1963,
Columbia University.
2 B. Nispel, The Office of Lieutenant Gov-
ernor in the United States 26 (1957) (un-
published Ph.D. dissertation in University of
Pennsylvania Library).
3 encyclopedia of american history
29 (R. Morris ed. 1953).
160
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For only a brief period in its history,
from 1864 to 1867, did Maryland have a
lieutenant governor. Article II, Section 6
of the Maryland Constitution of 1864
provided that "a lieutenant governor
shall be chosen at every regular election
for governor. He shall continue in office
for the same time, shall be elected in the
same manner, and shall possess the same
qualifications as the governor. In voting
for governor and lieutenant governor, the
electors shall state for whom they vote as
governor and for whom as lieutenant
governor."
Maryland established the position of
lieutenant governor for several reasons.
Since the lieutenant governor was chosen
by the people, "the people of Maryland
were doubly sure of the choice of their
chief executive."4 Establishing the office
of lieutenant governor in 1864 brought
Maryland into line with the majority of
other states. Finally, the lieutenant gov-
ernor was seen as the counterpart at the
state level of the vice president.
In 1867, however, Maryland abolished
the office. Scholars believe that the posi-
tion of lieutenant governor was elimi-
nated because "sentiment was so strong
against the provisions of the wartime
Constitution of 1864 that they were all
defeated."5 Maryland returned to the
earlier governmental organization of the
Constitution of 1851.
The traditional office of lieutenant
governor has been accepted by the vast
majority of states as a part of their state
government. Thirty-nine states have lieu-
tenant governors today. Twenty-two of
the twenty-five most populous states pro-
4 C. rohr, the governor of maryland:
A constitutional study 76 N. 100 (1932).
5 Nispel, supra note 2, at 48.
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