List of governors of New York

This is a list of the Governors of the State of New York which was created July 9, 1776.

The governor is the highest executive officer of the state. He was originally elected in April for a term of three years, beginning on July 1.

The New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 amended the state constitution, reducing the term of office to two years, moving the election to November, and moving the beginning and the end of the term to coincide with the calendar year. Until today the term ends on December 31, the next term begins on January 1. Beginning in 1877, the term in office was extended again to three years, in 1895 reduced to two years, and from 1938 on it was extended to the current four years.

In the order of succession, in the event of the death, resignation or impeachment of the governor, the lieutenant governor ascends to the office of governor.^[1]

Since 1875, the home of the Governor has been the New York State Executive Mansion in Albany, New York.

For colonial governors see List of colonial governors of New York. For the revolutionary government between 1775 and 1777 see New York Provincial Congress.

The current Governor, the 54th, is Eliot Spitzer, who took office on New Year's Day, 2007. The current lieutenant governor is David A. Paterson, the former minority leader of the state senate.

List of governors

#	Picture	Name	Took office	Left office	Party	Lt. Governor(s)	Notes
1		George Clinton	July 30 1777	April 1 1795	Democratic-Republican	Pierre Van Cortlandt
2		John Jay	April 1 1795	April 1 1801	Federalist	Stephen Van Rensselaer
		George Clinton	April 1 1801	April 1 1804	Democratic-Republican	Jeremiah Van Rensselaer
3	File:Morgan-Lewis.jpg	Morgan Lewis	April 1 1804	July 1 1807	Democratic-Republican	John Broome
4		Daniel D. Tompkins	July 1 1807	February 24 1817	Democratic-Republican	John Broome John Tayler (acting) DeWitt Clinton John Tayler	^[2]
5		John Tayler	February 24 1817	July 1 1817	Democratic-Republican	Vacant	^[3]
6		DeWitt Clinton	July 1 1817	December 31 1822	Democratic-Republican	John Tayler
7		Joseph C. Yates	January 1 1823	December 31 1824	Democratic-Republican	Erastus Root
		DeWitt Clinton	January 1 1825	February 11 1828	Clinton Republican	James Tallmadge, Jr. Nathaniel Pitcher	^[4]
8		Nathaniel Pitcher	February 11 1828	December 31 1828	Democratic-Republican	Peter R. Livingston (acting) Charles Dayan (acting)	^[3]
9		Martin Van Buren	January 1 1829	March 5 1829	Jacksonian Democratic	Enos T. Throop	^[5]
10	File:Enos Throop.gif	Enos T. Throop	March 5 1829	December 31 1832	Jacksonian Democratic	Charles Stebbins (acting) William M. Oliver (acting) Edward Philip Livingston	^[6]
11		William L. Marcy	January 1 1833	December 31 1838	Democratic	John Tracy
12		William H. Seward	January 1 1839	December 31 1842	Whig	Luther Bradish
13		William C. Bouck	January 1 1843	December 31 1844	Democratic	Daniel S. Dickinson
14		Silas Wright	January 1 1845	December 31 1846	Democratic	Addison Gardiner
15		John Young	January 1 1847	December 31 1848	Whig	Addison Gardiner Hamilton Fish
16		Hamilton Fish	January 1 1849	December 31 1850	Whig	George Washington Patterson
17		Washington Hunt	January 1 1851	December 31 1852	Whig Anti-Rent	Sanford E. Church
18		Horatio Seymour	January 1 1853	December 31 1854	Democratic	Sanford E. Church
19		Myron H. Clark	January 1 1855	December 31 1856	Fusion	Henry J. Raymond
20		John Alsop King	January 1 1857	December 31 1858	Republican	Henry R. Selden
21		Edwin D. Morgan	January 1 1859	December 31 1862	Republican	Robert Campbell
		Horatio Seymour	January 1 1863	December 31 1864	Democratic	David R. Floyd-Jones
22		Reuben Fenton	January 1 1865	December 31 1868	Union	Thomas G. Alvord Stewart L. Woodford
23		John Thompson Hoffman	January 1 1869	December 31 1872	Democratic	Allen C. Beach
24		John Adams Dix	January 1 1873	December 31 1874	Republican	John Cleveland Robinson
25		Samuel J. Tilden	January 1 1875	December 31 1876	Democratic	William Dorsheimer
26	File:GovLucius.jpg	Lucius Robinson	January 1 1877	December 31 1879	Democratic	William Dorsheimer
27		Alonzo B. Cornell	January 1 1880	December 31 1882	Republican	George Gilbert Hoskins
28		Grover Cleveland	January 1 1883	January 6 1885	Democratic	David B. Hill	^[5]
29		David B. Hill	January 6 1885	December 31 1891	Democratic	Dennis McCarthy (acting) Edward F. Jones	^[6]
30		Roswell P. Flower	January 1 1892	December 31 1894	Democratic	William F. Sheehan
31		Levi P. Morton	January 1 1895	December 31 1896	Republican	Charles T. Saxton
32		Frank S. Black	January 1 1897	December 31 1898	Republican	Timothy L. Woodruff
33		Theodore Roosevelt	January 1 1899	December 31 1900	Republican	Timothy L. Woodruff
34		Benjamin B. Odell, Jr.	January 1 1901	December 31 1904	Republican	Timothy L. Woodruff Frank W. Higgins
35		Frank W. Higgins	January 1 1905	December 31 1906	Republican	M. Linn Bruce
36		Charles Evans Hughes	January 1 1907	October 6 1910	Republican	Lewis S. Chanler Horace White	^[7]
37		Horace White	October 6 1910	December 31 1910	Republican	George H. Cobb (acting)	^[3]
38		John Alden Dix	January 1 1911	December 31 1912	Democratic	Thomas F. Conway
39		William Sulzer	January 1 1913	October 17 1913	Democratic	Martin H. Glynn	^[8]
40		Martin H. Glynn	October 17 1913	December 31 1914	Democratic	Robert F. Wagner (acting)	^[3]
41		Charles S. Whitman	January 1 1915	December 31 1918	Republican	Edward Schoeneck
42		Al Smith	January 1 1919	December 31 1920	Democratic	Harry C. Walker
43		Nathan L. Miller	January 1 1921	December 31 1922	Republican	Jeremiah Wood
		Al Smith	January 1 1923	December 31 1928	Democratic	George R. Lunn Seymour Lowman Edwin Corning
44		Franklin D. Roosevelt	January 1 1929	December 31 1932	Democratic	Herbert H. Lehman
45		Herbert H. Lehman	January 1 1933	December 3 1942	Democratic	M. William Bray Charles Poletti	^[9]
46		Charles Poletti	December 3 1942	December 31 1942	Democratic	Joe R. Hanley (acting)	^[3]
47		Thomas Dewey	January 1 1943	December 31 1954	Republican	Thomas W. Wallace Joe R. Hanley Frank C. Moore Arthur H. Wicks (acting) Walter J. Mahoney (acting)
48	File:William Averell Harriman pers0170.jpg	W. Averell Harriman	January 1 1955	December 31 1958	Democratic	George DeLuca
49		Nelson Rockefeller	January 1 1959	December 18 1973	Republican	Malcolm Wilson	^[10]
50		Malcolm Wilson	December 18 1973	December 31 1974	Republican	Warren M. Anderson (acting)	^[3]
51	File:Hugh carey.jpg	Hugh Carey	January 1 1975	December 31 1982	Democratic	Mary Anne Krupsak Mario Cuomo
52		Mario Cuomo	January 1 1983	December 31 1994	Democratic	Alfred B. DelBello Warren M. Anderson (acting) Stanley N. Lundine
53		George Pataki	January 1 1995	December 31 2006	Republican	Betsy McCaughey Ross Mary O. Donohue
54		Eliot Spitzer	January 1 2007	March 10 2008	Democratic	David Paterson	^[11]
55	File:DavidPaterson.jpg	David Paterson	March 12 2008	Incumbent	Democratic	Joseph Bruno	^[12]

Notes

^ Executive Branch of the Several States http://www.thegreenpapers.com/slg/executive.phtml
^ Resigned to be Vice President of the United States.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As lieutenant governor, filled unexpired term.
^ Died in office.
^ ^a ^b Resigned to be President of the United States.
^ ^a ^b As lieutenant governor, filled unexpired term, and was later elected in his own right.
^ Resigned to take seat as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
^ Impeached and removed from office for campaign contribution fraud.
^ Resigned to be Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the U.S. Department of State.
^ Resigned to devote himself to his Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.
^ Governor Spitzer's first term expires in 2010; he is not yet term limited.
^ David Paterson, the former lieutenant governor, became governor upon Eliot Spitzer's resignation.

Living former governors

As of July 2007, three former governors were alive, the oldest being Hugh Carey (1975–1982, born 1919). The most recent governor to die was Charles Poletti (1942), on August 8 2002. The most recently-serving governor to die was Malcolm Wilson (1973–1974), on March 13 2000.

Name	Gubernatorial term	Date of birth
Hugh Carey	1975–1982	April 11 1919
Mario Cuomo	1983–1994	June 15 1932
George Pataki	1995–2006	June 24 1945

Other offices held

Many New York governors have also held higher office

President of the United States: Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Vice President of the United States: George Clinton, Daniel D. Tompkins, Martin Van Buren, Levi P. Morton, Theodore Roosevelt, Nelson Rockefeller
Chief Justice of the United States: John Jay, Charles Evans Hughes
United States Secretary of State: William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, Charles Evans Hughes
Unsuccessful Presidential nominee: De Witt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, Samuel J. Tilden, Charles Evans Hughes, Al Smith, Thomas Dewey

Some had held a higher office before becoming governor.

Other high offices held

This is a table of congressional and other federal offices held by governors. All representatives and senators mentioned represented New York. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.

Name	Gubernatorial term	U.S. Congress		Other offices held
Name	Gubernatorial term	House	Senate	Other offices held
George Clinton	1777–1795, 1801–1804			Delegate to the Continental Congress, Vice President of the United States
John Jay	1795–1801			President of the Continental Congress, U.S. Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Spain, Chief Justice of the United States
Daniel D. Tompkins	1807–1817	H		Vice President of the United States*
DeWitt Clinton	1817–1822, 1825–1828		S
Nathaniel Pitcher	1828	H
Martin Van Buren	1829		S	U.S. Secretary of State, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States*
Enos T. Throop	1829–1832	H
William L. Marcy	1833–1838		S	U.S. Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of State
William H. Seward	1839–1842		S	U.S. Secretary of State
Silas Wright	1845–1845	H	S
John Young	1847–1848	H
Hamilton Fish	1849–1850	H	S	U.S. Secretary of State
Washington Hunt	1851–1852	H
John Alsop King	1857–1858	H
Edwin D. Morgan	1859–1862		S
Reuben Fenton	1865–1868	H	S
John Adams Dix	1873–1874		S	Ambassador to France, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Grover Cleveland	1883–1884			President of the United States*
David B. Hill	1885–1891		S
Roswell P. Flower	1892–1894	H
Levi P. Morton	1895–1896	H		Ambassador to France, Vice President of the United States
Frank S. Black	1897–1898	H
Theodore Roosevelt	1899–1900			Vice President of the United States, President of the United States
Benjamin B. Odell, Jr.	1901–1904	H
Charles Evans Hughes	1907–1910			U.S. Secretary of State, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court*, Chief Justice of the United States.
William Sulzer	1913	H
Martin H. Glynn	1913–1914	H
Franklin D. Roosevelt	1929–1932			President of the United States
Herbert H. Lehman	1933–1942		S
W. Averell Harriman	1955–1958			U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Nelson Rockefeller	1959–1973			Vice President of the United States
Hugh Carey	1975–1982	H

External links

"Governors of New York" - history page on New York State website
Jenkins, John Stilwell (1851). Lives of the Governors of the State of New York. Auburn N.Y.: Derby and Miller. p. 862.

[1] Executive Branch of the Several States http://www.thegreenpapers.com/slg/executive.phtml

[vp-2] Resigned to be Vice President of the United States.

[ltfilled-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As lieutenant governor, filled unexpired term.

[died-4] Died in office.

[pres-5] Resigned to be President of the United States.

[ltelected-6] As lieutenant governor, filled unexpired term, and was later elected in his own right.

[7] Resigned to take seat as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

[8] Impeached and removed from office for campaign contribution fraud.

[9] Resigned to be Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations at the U.S. Department of State.

[10] Resigned to devote himself to his Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.

[11] Governor Spitzer's first term expires in 2010; he is not yet term limited.

[12] David Paterson, the former lieutenant governor, became governor upon Eliot Spitzer's resignation.

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v t e Officers in the State of New York
Current offices	Governor Lieutenant Governor Speaker of the Assembly Temporary President of the Senate Secretary of State Attorney General State Comptroller Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals Clerk of the Court of Appeals Clerk of the State Assembly
Defunct offices	Chancellor (1777–1847) State Treasurer (1776–1926) State Engineer (1846–1926) Canal Commissioner (1810–1878) Superintendent of Public Works (1877–1967) Inspector of State Prisons (1848–1877) New York Superintendent of State Prisons (1877–1926)