Council of State

The Council of State comprises North Carolina's executive branch of government. Under the North Carolina Constitution [3], it is composed of ten elected officers: the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor [4], treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, attorney general, and commissioners of agriculture, labor, and insurance. The locus of considerable power in the antebellum period [5], the modern Council of State is assigned little power directly by the state constitution. It is given an important role by statute in certain decisions, particularly in the purchase of property by the state.