Governor of New Jersey - Definition and Overview

This is a list of governors of New Jersey.

Governors under the Proprietors (1665-1674)

• Philip Carteret 1665-1672
• John Berry 1672-1673
• Anthony Colve 1673-1674

Governors of East Jersey and their Deputies (1674-1702)

• Philip Carteret 1674-1682
• Robert Barclay 1682-1688
• Thomas Rudyard, Deputy 1682-1683
• Gawen Lawrie, Deputy 1683-1686
• Lord Neill Campbell, Deputy 1686-1687
• Andrew Hamilton, Deputy 1687-1690
• Edmund Andros 1688-1689
• Andrew Hamilton 1692-1697
• Jeremiah Basse 1698-1699
• Andrew Hamilton 1699-1702

Governors of West Jersey and their Deputies (1680-1702)

• Edward Byllynge 1680-1687
• Samuel Jennings, Deputy 1681-1684
• Thomas Olive, Deputy 1684-1685
• John Skene, Deputy 1685-1687
• Daniel Coxe 1687-1688
• Edmund Andros 1688-1689
• Edward Hunloke, Deputy 1690
• Andrew Hamilton 1692-1697
• Jeremiah Basse 1697-1699
• Andrew Hamilton 1699-1702 (again)

Governors under Royal Government (1703-1776)

Governors of New York and New Jersey (1703-1738)

• Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury 1703-8
• John, Lord Lovelace 1708-9
• Richard Ingoldesby, Lieutenant and Governor 1709-10
• Robert Hunter 1710-20
• William Burnet 1720-28
• John Montgomerie 1728-31
• Lewis Morris, President Of Council 1731-1732
• William Cosby 1732-36
• John Anderson, President Of Council 1736
• John Hamilton, President Of Council 1736-1738

Governors of New Jersey only (1738-1776)

• Lewis Morris 1738-46
• John Hamilton, President Of Council 1746-1747
• John Reading, President Of Council 1747
• Jonathan Belcher 1747-57
• Thomas Pownall, Lieut. Governor 1757
• John Reading, President Of Council 1757-1758
• Francis Bernard 1758-60
• Thomas Boone 1760-61
• Josiah Hardy 1761-63
• William Franklin 1763-76

Governors under representative government (1776-present)

Governors under the 1776 N.J. Constitution (1776-1844)

• William Livingston 1776-90
• Elisha Lawrence 1790 (?)
• William Paterson 1790-93
• Thomas Henderson (Politician) 1793 (?)
• Richard Howell 1793-1801
• Joseph Bloomfield 1801-02
• John Lambert, Acting Governor 1802-03
• Joseph Bloomfield 1803-12
• Aaron Ogden 1812-13
• William S. Pennington 1813-15
• Mahlon Dickerson 1815-17
• Isaac Halstead Williamson 1817-29
• Peter Dumont Vroom 1829-32
• Samuel Lewis Southard 1832-33
• Elias P. Seeley 1833
• Peter Dumont Vroom 1833-36
• Philemon Dickerson1836-37
• William Pennington 1837-43
• Daniel Haines 1843-45

Governors under the 1844 N.J. Constitution (1844-1946)

1 Resigned as Governor to become Attorney General of the United States

2 Resigned as Governor to become President of the United States

3 Resigned as Governor to become a United States Senator

Governors under the 1947 N.J. Constitution (1947-present)

1 Resigned as Governor to become Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

2 Was one of three New Jersey State Senate Presidents who held the position of Acting Governor during this time.

3 As the New Jersey Attorney General, assumed the office of Governor for 90 minutes while a new Senate President was being sworn in for the new session.

4 Resigned as Governor in August 2004, effective November 15, 2004, after admitting that he had an affair with a man while married to his wife Dina Matos.

5 Became Acting Governor on November 15, 2004, following resignation of Gov. McGreevey. He will serve until a new Governor takes office in January 2006, following a regular election in November 2005.