John LETCHER

March 29, 1812 (age 71)

Lexington, Alabama, United States

He attended Randolph-Macon College, graduated from Washington College in Lexington in 1833, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1839. He was a Democrat and a Presbyterian. He had nine children by his marriage to Mary S. Holt. Letcher, who developed an excellent legal practice in Lexington, also edited the Valley Star, a strongly Democratic newspaper in a Whig county, from 1840 to 1850. In 1847, he signed the Ruffner paper advocating the abolition of slavery in West Virginia, but as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1851 to 1859, he defended the South and became a proslavery spokesman. He served on the House Ways and Means Committee. While a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1850-1851, he favored a white basis of electoral representation. However, in 1859 the Whigs of his state labeled him an abolitionist in a heated gubernatorial campaign in which he carried only two congressional districts in the east. Elected governor of Virginia in 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas for president the same year. He helped to organize the peace convention in Washington in 1861, yet he gave strong support to the Confederacy. His calling of the General Assembly led to that body’s taking Virginia out of the Union. Letcher tried to keep western Virginia within the Confederacy and helped to organize the provisional army of the state. In June 1864, Union troops burned his home in Lexington. An able administrator, Letcher generally ran only a caretaker government because the Confederate government controlled Virginia. After the war, he practiced law in Lexington, served as a Democrat in the state House from 1875 to 1877, and was a member of the Board of Visitors at Virginia Military Institute from 1866 to 1880.

John LETCHER

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Background

LETCHER, John was born on March 29, 1812 in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of William Houston and Elizabeth (Davidson) Letcher.

Education

Private school, southern university.

Career

He attended Randolph-Macon College, graduated from Washington College in Lexington in 1833, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1839. He was a Democrat and a Presbyterian. He had nine children by his marriage to Mary S. Holt.

Letcher, who developed an excellent legal practice in Lexington, also edited the Valley Star, a strongly Democratic newspaper in a Whig county, from 1840 to 1850. In 1847, he signed the Ruffner paper advocating the abolition of slavery in West Virginia, but as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1851 to 1859, he defended the South and became a proslavery spokesman. He served on the House Ways and Means Committee.

While a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1850-1851, he favored a white basis of electoral representation. However, in 1859 the Whigs of his state labeled him an abolitionist in a heated gubernatorial campaign in which he carried only two congressional districts in the east. Elected governor of Virginia in 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas for president the same year.

He helped to organize the peace convention in Washington in 1861, yet he gave strong support to the Confederacy. His calling of the General Assembly led to that body’s taking Virginia out of the Union. Letcher tried to keep western Virginia within the Confederacy and helped to organize the provisional army of the state.

In June 1864, Union troops burned his home in Lexington. An able administrator, Letcher generally ran only a caretaker government because the Confederate government controlled Virginia. After the war, he practiced law in Lexington, served as a Democrat in the state House from 1875 to 1877, and was a member of the Board of Visitors at Virginia Military Institute from 1866 to 1880.

Religion

"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.

Politics

Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.

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John LETCHER

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