Article IV of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the executive power on the governor and empowers them with the faculty to appoint officers.

The first known and recorded heads of government in the history of Puerto Rico were the caciques, the tribal chiefs of the natives known as Taínos that inhabited the island before the arrival of Spaniards.

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón had been appointed to take the position of Captain General of the City of Puerto Rico prior to the island's colonization, but he never performed this function.

The person selected was in charge of the island's development and wealth and was responsible for reporting the colony's status to the government in Spain.

The first native Puerto Rican to perform the function was Juan Ponce de León II, grandson of the conquistador, who served as interim governor in 1579.

Following the conclusion of the war, Spain was forced to cede Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines and Guam, to the United States under the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

In 1900, William McKinley signed the Foraker Act as a United States federal law, which established civilian (limited popular) government on Puerto Rico.

[5] The new government had a governor and an executive council appointed by the President, a House of Representatives with 35 elected members, a judicial system with a Supreme Court, and a non-voting Resident Commissioner in Congress.

On July 25, 1952, the Constitution of Puerto Rico was enacted by Governor Muñoz Marín after the approval by Congress and the President of the United States.

The governor serves a four-year term which begins on the second day of January after the year of their election and ends on the date their successor takes office.

The Puerto Rico Elections Code states that if the margin of victory of a candidate is less than 0.5% of the votes, a full recount must take place.

In decades past, when off-island gubernatorial travel was infrequent, the powers of the governorship rarely devolved upon the secretary of state or other Cabinet officers.