Duane Lockard, a Princeton professor who took a look at the NJ governorship in 1964, wrote this about those who had served to that point:
"Some were rogues and thieves; some were the mere agents of powerful outsiders (like business moguls or party bosses); some were amiable nonentities, adept at platitude and evasion, who served their terms and passed into deserved oblivion. But there were others. Some were men of firmness, ability, and principle who would compare well with any group of chiefs of state drawn from a comparable society that developed in three centuries from a collection of a few hundred hardy settlers to a metropolitan state of six million people."
Duane Lockard, The New Jersey Governor: A Study in Political Power (Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co. 1964)
The Colonial era lasted from the settlement of New Jersey to the Declaration of Independence, a period of 112 years during which there were 20 governors.
For the first four decades the British governors were appointed by the Proprietors in London , who had been granted authority over the land by the King. Starting in 1703, governors were appointed directly by the reigning monarch, and in that year Queen Anne named Edward Hyde the first royal governor of New Jersey. Hyde was already governor of New York. New York and New Jersey shared a governor until 1738. For most of this period the governor had the power to veto legislation, control the judiciary, and convene and dissolve the legislature at his command. The governor's power as a practical matter, however, was constrained by the dependence on the popularly elected assembly to appropriate the money for running the government, including the governor’s salary. The assembly could, and did, use its power to exert pressure on governors to curtail their executive authority.
With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the royal government collapsed. In 1776, the last Royal Governor, William Franklin--who was the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin and had gained his Royal appointment in 1763 as governor with the aid of his father's intervention with influential associates in London--was arrested and imprisoned. At a hastily convened Assembly in 1776, the leaders of New Jersey's rebellion wrote a new Constitution declaring that New Jersey was now independent of Great Britain . The Constitution drew on the colonists’ bitter experience of the struggles between the Royal governor and the legislature – as well as the current struggle between the King and the colonies. The Constitution of 1776 made the governor a mere creature of the legislature – a figurehead. He was elected not by the people but by the legislature, and served a one year term --although could be reelected by the legislature for successive one year terms. He had no veto and limited powers of appointment. The major responsibilities were serving as commander in chief of the militia and running the courts. Fourteen governors served during the 68 years years that this constitution was in force.
In 1844 a new constitution was approved, which expanded somewhat the powers of the governor. The governor now had a veto, but it could be overwritten by a simple majority of the legislature. His term extended to three years, but he could not run for a second consecutive term. The champion in regard to non-consecutive terms was A. Harry Moore, known as Boss Frank Hague’s “patent governor.” He served three non-consecutive terms in the period between the two World Wars. Under the 1844 Constitution, the governor could not create new agencies, which allowed the legislature to set up boards and commissions beyond his control. In the 103 years of the 1844 constitution, 28 governors held office. By the early 20th century, many reform minded New Jerseyans realized that the constitution was badly outdated, but change was resisted by those who could manipulate the system, notably Boss Frank Hague of Hudson County who liked things just the way they were, with a weak governor he could manipulate.
After several unsuccessful efforts to reform or replace the 1844 Constitution, the Constitution of 1947 was drafted during a Convention held on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University and approved by public referendum. A primary goal of the new Constitution, which remains in effect today, was to strengthen the power of the governor, and the governor's position is regarded by most analysts to be one of the strongest of any governor in the nation. The term was extended to four years, and the incumbent could run for a second term. It now took a two-thirds majority in the legislature to overturn a governor’s veto; the governor also was given the power to veto specific language in proposed bills and return it to the Legislature for concurrence with his suggested revisions and also was authorized to veto or reduce amounts in appropriations bills. The 1947 constitution also created a more modern administrative structure with the governor appointing the heads of all executive agencies; State judges; and county prosecutors. |
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