The use of the term governor first came into common use under the Roman Empire to describe the agent appointed by the central government to exercise authority in designated provinces or colonies.

Yet, even before the Roman Empire, officials with similar responsibilities but under varying titles also were found in ancient Egypt, Greece and Persia, where the geographic scope of the empires and difficulties of travel and communication led to the designation of governmental agents holding specific legal and governmental authority. Satrap was the term, for example, given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Persian empires; the satrap was the head of the administration of his province, who among other things collected taxes, oversaw local officials and the subject tribes and cities, and served as supreme judge of the province before whom every civil and criminal case could be brought. As the regions governed by these and other empires gradually came under Roman domination, the governors appointed by Rome assumed roles that were often similar to those played by agents of the earlier empires.

The governor of any Roman province had many tasks to carry out during his administration. Firstly, he was responsible for taxation and financial management. Depending on the basis of his appointment, he was either the Emperor's personal agent, or the Roman Senate’s financial agent, and had to supervise the local authorities, the private tax collectors, and levy taxes. A governor could mint coins and negotiate with wealthy institutions such as temples and private money-lenders that could advance money. The governor was also the province's chief accountant. He inspected the books of major cities and various operations as well as supervising large-scale building projects throughout the province.

Aside from these financial duties, the governor was the province's chief judge. The governor had the sole right to impose capital punishment, and capital cases were normally tried before him. To appeal a governor's decision necessitated travelling to Rome and presenting one's case before either the Praetor Urbanus, or even the Emperor himself, an expensive, and thus rare, process. An appeal was unlikely to succeed anyway, as a governor wouldn’t generally take the chance of convicting someone contrary to the Emperor's wishes. The governor was also supposed to travel across his province to administer justice in the major towns where his attention was required.

Finally, and most importantly, he commanded the military forces within the province. In the more important provinces, this could consist of legions, but elsewhere, there were only auxiliaries. As a part of his standing orders the governor had the authority to use his legions to stamp out organized criminal gangs or rebels in the area without need for the Emperor's or Senate's approval.

Governors each were authorized to retain advisers and staff, who were known as his comites (Latin for "companions"); the number of these depended on the governor's social standing and rank. These comites would serve as the governor's executive council, with each supervising a different aspect of the province, and assisting the governor in decision making. In the provinces with a significant legionary presence, the governor's second-in-command was usually a quaestor, a man elected in Rome and sent to the province to serve a mainly financial role, but who could command the military with the governor's approval. In other provinces, governors themselves appointed non-magistrate prefects or procurators to govern a small part of the province and act as their second-in-command.

A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was Rector provinciae, regardless of the specific titles, which also reflect the province's intrinsic and strategic status, and corresponding differences in authority. By the time of the early empire, there were two types of provinces — senatorial and imperial — and several types of governor would emerge. Only proconsuls and propraetors fell under the classification of promagistrate.

During the time of the Roman Republic, the Senate was in charge of appointing governors to Rome's provinces. This was done by appointing promagistates to serve, either by random casting of lots or by senatus consultum (advice of the Senate); however, these appointments were not legally binding and could be overruled by Roman assemblies. The governor's level of authority was determined by what type of imperium he possessed. Most provinces were governed by propraetors who had served an annual term in the praetorship the year before. The provinces governed by propraetors were usually the most tranquil ones, where chances of revolt or invasion were small, but in some cases propraetors would be given command of more troubled provinces.

Provinces that lay on the empire's borders, thereby requiring a permanent military garrison, were governed by proconsuls who had served a term as consul the year before their governorship. They were given the authority to command provinces with actual Roman legions, rather than just using the militia. These promagistrates held equal authority with other magistrates with the same level of imperium and were attended by the same number of lictors. Generally speaking, they had autocratic power within their provinces. A provincial governor had almost totally unlimited authority and frequently extorted vast amounts of money from the provincial population—but, though he retained immunity from prosecution as long as he held his imperium, once he left office he became vulnerable to prosecution for his actions during his term.

Imperial provinces

After Augustus established the principate, the Emperor himself was the direct governor of Rome's most important provinces (called imperial provinces) and, even in the provinces he did not directly govern, was senior to other provincial governors through holding imperium maius, or supreme imperium. In imperial provinces, the Emperor would appoint legates to govern in his name. The Emperor had sole say in the appointing of these legates, who were lower in rank than other provincial governors, as officially they were only representatives of the province's true governor, the Emperor.

The principate did not totally do away with the system of selecting proconsuls and propraetors. In provinces with one legion, a legate bearing praetorian imperium, thus being a propraetor, not only governed the province in the Emperor’s name, but also controlled the legion himself. However, in provinces with more than one legion, each legion was commanded by its own legate with praetorian imperium, while the province as a whole was commanded by a legate with consular imperium, who had general command over the entire army stationed there, as well as administering the province as a proconsul. Appointment to these governorships was completely at the whim of the Emperor and could last anywhere from 1 to 5 years.

The office of governor in the United States was greatly influenced by the colonial experience in which governors were appointed to administer the lands of North America. The governor's role in both French and British colonies evolved along simialr paths; initially, governors were appointed by and responsible to private landowners, companies and investors that operated in the region under the authority of royal grants or patents, but gradually these private governors came to be replaced by appointees directly representinmg interests of the Crown. In New France, early governors were first appointed by and responsible to private interests, but by the mid-1600s, the French monarchy took greater control over administration of New France by appointing governors responsible to the French state, not private companies. Colonial governors in Acadia and Plaisance had always been responsible directly to the French monarchy.

Early French governors had absolute power over their colonies. They were responsible to the monarchs, governments, or private companies that appointed them, not the residents of the colony.

During the 17th century, the British established several colonies along North America’s eastern coast, including the Canadian colony of Newfoundland. Private companies undertook early colonization of Newfoundland, and Proprietary Governors responsible to these companies acted as colonial administers. Beginning in the early 1700s, however, the British government began to appoint ‘Commodore-Governors’ to the colony. These Commodore-Governors commanded local British naval forces and were tasked with protecting Newfoundland from pirates and foreign fleets. Civil Governors responsible to the British monarchy eventually replaced Commodore-Governors in the early 19th century.

Following several European wars in the 18th century, the British gained control of the French colonies of Acadia and New France. The British eventually divided Acadia into the colonies of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Maine, appointing colonial governors to administer each colony. New France was renamed the Province of Quebec and was also given its own colonial governor. These governors had authoritarian powers and were responsible only to the British monarch and government.

In the 1780s, the British reorganized the governors’ offices. The governor posts for Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were merged into a single office called the Governor-in-Chief, later renamed the Governor General. Lieutenant Governors were also appointed to each individual colony. It is at this time that Canada’s modern system of a federal Governor General and provincial Lieutenant Governors first appeared. This system was formalized following Canadian Confederation in 1867.

In the United States, the significant role of the contemporary state governorhas evolved from the relatively weak postion provided the governor in the formative years of the nation. (to be continued)

Sources:Coleman B. Ramsome, Jr., The Office of Governor in the United States (l956); Wikipedia