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Did You Know?Did You Know?

California Governors

A list of California governors from 1769 to the present.

Governors of California when California belonged to Spain, 1767 - 1822
Gaspar de Portola 1769 - 1770
Pedro Fages (Alta California) 1770 - 1774
Felipe de Barre (Los Californios) 1771 - 1774
Fernando Rivera y Moncada (Alta California) 1774 - 1777
Felipe de Neve (Los Californios) 1777 - 1782
Pedro Fages 1782 - 1791
Jose Antonio Romeu 1791 - 1792
Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga 1800 - 1814
Diego de Borica 1794 - 1800
Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga 1800 - 1814
Jose Dario de Arguello 1814 - 1815
Pablo Vicente de Sola 1815 - 1822

Governors of California when California belonged to Mexico, 1822 - 1846
Pablo Vicente de Sola 1822
Luis Antonio de Arguello 1822 - 1825
Jose Maria de Echeandia 1825 - 1831
Manuel Victoria 1831
Pio Pico 1832
Agustin V. Zamorano (north) 1832 - 1833
Jose Maria de Echeandia (south) 1832 - 1833
Jose Figueroa 1833 - 1835
Jose Castro 1835 - 1836
Nicolas Gutierrez 1836
Mariano Chico 1836
Nicolas Gutierrez 1836
Juan Bautista Alvarado 1836 - 1842
Manuel Micheltorena 1842 - 1845
Pio Pico 1845 - 1846
Jose Maria Flores 1846 - 1847
Andres Pico 1847

As the result of the Mexican War, Mexico ceded California to the United States in 1846. A territorial government should have been established by the U.S. Congress, but it was not. Congress delayed establishing any civilian government while it struggled with the issues of slavery and the balance of slave and non-slave states. In the meantime, California was administered by a succession of seven American military governors.

American Military Governors of California
John Drake Sloat 1846
Robert Field Stockton 1847
John Charles Fremont 1847
Stephen Watts Kearny 1847
Richard Barnes Mason 1847 - 1849
Persifor F. Smith 1849
Bennet Riley 1849

Governors of California, 1849 - present
Peter H. Burnett 1849 - 1851 Independent Democrat
John McDougal 1851 - 1852 Independent Democrat
John Bigler 1852 - 1856 Democrat
J. Neely Johnson 1856 - 1858 American
John B. Weller 1858 - 1850 Democrat
Milton S. Latham 1860 Lecompton Democrat
John G. Downey 1860 - 1862 Lecompton Democrat
Leland Stanford 1862 - 1863 Republican
Frederick F. Low 1863 - 1867 Union
Henry H. Haight 1867 - 1871 Democrat
Newton Booth 1871 - 1875 Republican
Romualdo Pacheco 1875 Republican
William Irwin 1875 - 1880 Democrat
George C. Perkins 1880 - 1883 Republican
George Stoneman 1883 - 1887 Democrat
Washington Bartlett 1887 Democrat
Robert W. Waterman 1887 - 1891 Republican
Henry H. Markham 1891 - 1895 Republican
James H. Budd 1895 - 1899 Democrat
Henry T. Gage 1899 - 1903 Republican
George C. Pardee 1903 - 1907 Republican
James N. Gillett 1907 - 1911 Republican
Hiram W. Johnson 1911 - 1917 Republican, then Progressive
William D. Stephens 1917 - 1923 Republican
Friend William Richardson 1923 - 1927 Republican
Clement C. Young 1927 - 1931 Republican
James Rolph, Jr. 1931 - 1934 Republican
Frank F. Merriam 1934 - 1939 Republican
Culbert L. Olson 1939 - 1943 Democrat
Earl Warren 1943 - 1953 Republican
Goodwin J. Knight 1953 - 1959 Republican
Edmund G. Brown 1959 - 1967 Democrat
Ronald Reagan 1967 - 1975 Republican
Edmund G. Brown, Jr. 1975 - 1983 Democrat
George Deukmejian 1983 - 1991 Republican
Pete Wilson 1991 - 1999 Republican
Gray Davis 1999 - 2003 Democrat
Arnold Schwarzenegger 2003 - present Republican

View similarly tagged entries:

California, government, people

Sources:

Books

  • A Companion to California
    Newly Revised and Expanded with Illustrations. By James D. Hart. University of California Press, 1987.

Related Information:

Websites

Last updated by cowend on Dec. 9, 2009

Disclaimer...

While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.

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