Executive power came first.
- Click here for it.
From 1606 until 1624, Proprietary Governors oversaw the operation of the Virginia Colony. Most were styled "President of the Council", although some were styled "governor" by the proprietors.
- President of the Council Edward Maria Wingfield (1607)
- President of the Council John Ratcliffe (1608)
- Matthew Scrivener (1608)
- President of the Council John Smith (1608–1609)
- President of the Council George Percy (1609–1610)
- Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1609–1618)
- Governor Sir George Yeardley (1619–1621)
- Governor Sir Francis Wyatt (1621–1624)
After the Virginia Company of London lost its proprietary charter in 1624, the colony was taken over by the English Crown, and became a crown colony. Governors were appointed by the ruling monarch to oversee the interests of the Crown.
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For more on colonial executive power:
- The Governor’s Council.
The governor’s Council, also known as the Council of State or simply the Council, consisted of about a dozen of colonial Virginia‘s wealthiest and most prominent men. Beginning in the 1630s the Crown appointed Council members, although from 1652 to 1660 the General Assembly elected the members. Crown appointments were lifetime appointments. From 1625, when Virginia became a royal colony, until the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775–1783), the Council members advised the royal governor or his deputy, the lieutenant governor, on all executive matters. The Council and the governor together constituted the highest court in the colony, known initially as the Quarter Court and later as the General Court. The Council members also served as members of the General Assembly; from the first meeting of the assembly in 1619 until 1643 the governor, Council members, and burgesses all met in unicameral session. After 1643 the Council members met separately as the upper House of the General Assembly. The Virginia Constitution of 1776 effectively abolished the governor’s Council and distributed its executive, judicial, and legislative functions to three separate bodies of men.
