482 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI permitting them to serve only as ex officio and non- compensatory participants or advisory board members. It did not, however, remove the power of the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house to appoint (non- legislative) members to those executive branch positions. The legislature also retained the exclusive power to expand, limit, or otherwise modify or define the scope and function of the boards—including how much state- appropriated money is provided for their staff and operational programs. The legislature has also, as part of the laws creating the boards and commissions, retained the authority to repeal their existence at will. Lt. Governors 1817-1832 Duncan Stewart – 1817-1820 James Patton – 1820-1822 David Dickson – 1822-1824 Gerard Chittocque Brandon – 1824-1826 Abram M. Scott – 1828-1832 Fountain Winston – 1832 The Office of Lieutenant Governor was abolished by the constitution of 1832 and the duties of President of the Senate were incorporated into a separate office. President of the Senate 1833-1869 Charles Lynch – 1833-1834 P. Briscoe – 1834-1836 W. Van Norman – 1836-1837 Alexander Gallatin McNutt – 1837-1838 A.L. Bingaman – 1838-1840 G.B. Augustus – 1840-1842 Jesse Speight – 1842-1843 A. Fox – 1843-1844 Jesse Speight – 1844-1846 G.T. Swan – 1846-1848 Dabney Lipscomb – 1848-1851 James Whitfield – 1851-1854 John J. Pettus – 1854-1858 James Drane – 1858-1865 John M. Simonton – 1865-1869 The Constitution of 1869 re-established the office of Lieutenant Governor. This office also re-assumed the duties of President of the Senate. Lt. Governors 1870-2017 Ridgley C. Powers – 1870-1871 A.K. Davis – 1871-1876 John M. Stone – 1876-1878 William H. Sims – 1878-1882 G.D. Shands – 1882-1890 M.M. Evans – 1890-1896 J.H. Jones – 1896-1900 James T. Harrison – 1900-1904 John Prentiss Carter – 1904-1908 Luther Manship – 1908-1912 Theodore Gilmore Bilbo – 1912-1916 Lee Maurice Russell – 1916-1920 Homer Harris Casteel – 1920-1924 Dennis Murphree – 1924-1927 Clayton Bidwell Adams – 1928-1932 Dennis Murphree – 1932-1936 Jacob Buehler Snider – 1936-1940 Dennis Murphree – 1940-1943 Fielding L. Wright – 1944-1946 Sam Lumpkin – 1948-1952 Carroll Gartin – 1952-1960 Paul Burney Johnson, Jr. – 1960-1964 Carroll Gartin – 1964-1966 Charles L. Sullivan – 1968-1972 William Forrest Winter – 1972-1976 Evelyn Gandy – 1976-1980 Bradford Johnson (Brad) Dye, Jr. – 1980-1992 Eddie Briggs – 1992-1996 David Ronald (Ronnie) Musgrove – 1996-2000 Amy Tuck – 2000-2008 Phil Bryant – 2008-2012 Tate Reeves – 2012-present THE JUDICIARY Written by Justice Josiah D. Coleman Although lacking the notoriety with which the Supreme Court of the United States and the other federal courts sometimes act, Mississippi’s state courts arguably have a much greater impact on the day-to-day lives of Mississippi’s citizens. Want, prosperity, peace, and strife have shaped the history of Mississippi’s legal system, just as they have the history of the state as a whole. The Judiciary Before Statehood Lawyers practiced and judges decided disputes in the Mississippi Territory well before the state was admitted to the Union in 1817. The first governor of the Mississippi Territory, Winthrop Sargent, perceived a need for a judicial system as early as 1798. Although the federal law creating the territory foresaw and provided for territorial judges, delays in getting the judges so provided to the territory left, to Governor Sargent’s thinking, a need to act to fill the void. Without discernable authority to do so, he appointed “Conservators of the Peace,” who would serve until the federally-provided judges arrived in the territory. During