About This Collection
The Office of Lieutenant Governor was created by the Constitution of 1874. Prior to this the Commonwealth had no Lieutenant Governor. The modern Lieutenant Governor position has no relation to the colonial officials who, from 1701-1776, bore the same title. The Lieutenant Governor is elected for a term of fours years. He is president of the Senate and Chair of the Board of Pardons. He may, by statute, be placed in other government positions but cannot receive compensation beyond his fixed salary as Lieutenant Governor. Lieutenant Governors have served on many temporary boards such as the Commission to Investigate World War I Battlefields as well as the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission and the Governor's Executive Council on Recycling. The 1996 statute creating the Department of Community and Economic Development made the Lieutenant Governor chairperson of the Local Government Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Council. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the State Senate but has no vote unless the Senate is equally divided. The Constitution of 1968 limited this right by stating ". . . he may vote in case of a tie on any question except the final passage of a bill or joint resolution, the adoption of a conference report or the concurrence in amendments made by the House of Representatives." The President pro tempore of the Senate presides in the Lieutenant Governor's absence. When presiding, the Lieutenant Governor signs not only legislation but other formal measures passed by the Senate. The constitution provides that the Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, for the same term, and subject to the same provisions as he Governor, and that in case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation, or other disability of the Governor, the powers, duties, and emoluments of the office for the remainder of the term or until the disability is removed shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor is not a member of the Executive Board. The office is constitutionally within the Executive Department and submits a regular budget request but is not itself a department. This collection contains applications made to, and proclamations issued by, the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. Grouped into applications and proclamations and then arranged chronologically by date of action. The applications volumes provide brief narrative case histories and recommendations for pardons or commutations and whether the pardons or commutations were granted. Volume 1 covering the period 1874-1877 provides reasons why the Pardon Board made its recommendations while for the period 1882-1930 records of commutation actions are included. The last volume covering the period 1931-1934 contains mostly commutation records with only a few pardon actions. The proclamation volumes provide the Board's recommendations and reasons for its judgments.
