Robert Perkins Letcher was a politician and lawyer from the U. S. state of Kentucky. He served as a U. S. Representative from 1822 to 1835, the 15th Governor of Kentucky from 1840 to 1844, and Minister to Mexico from 1849 to 1852.
Background
Robert Perkins Letcher was born in Goochland County, Virginia, United States, the seventh of the twelve children of Stephen Giles and Betsey (Perkins) Letcher. His grandfather, Giles Letcher, was the first of the line in America. He was of Welsh descent, but at the time of his emigration the family was living in Ireland. About 1800 Stephen Giles Letcher moved his family to Kentucky, settling first near Harrodsburg and shortly afterward in Garrard County. The elder Letcher was a brick-maker and his sons worked with him in that trade.
Education
Robert Perkins attended the academy conducted by Joshua Fry, one of the most noted of the teachers of early Kentucky, and later studied law in the office of Humphrey Marshall.
Career
During the War of 1812 Letcher saw a brief service as judge advocate in the regiment of Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia commanded by Lieut. -Col. James Allen. His term of enlistment came to an end in October 1812 and he did not reënlist.
Instead of pursuing a military career he turned to politics and in 1813 was elected to represent Garrard County in the lower house of the state legislature. He was a representative in 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1817. In 1822 he was elected to Congress and was continuously reëlected till 1835. His influence in Congress was considerable, but it was due rather to his genial personality and to his intimacy with Henry Clay than to his own talents as a lawmaker. In his last term in the House he was a member of the committee on foreign affairs.
Upon his return to Kentucky Letcher was elected to the state House of Representatives and continued to represent Garrard County in that body during 1836, 1837, and 1838. In December 1837 he was elected speaker of the House by a small majority and only after prolonged balloting. One year later he was unanimously reëlected to the same office. In 1840 he was elected governor of Kentucky on the Whig ticket. His chief service in this position consisted in halting, although he could not wholly stop, the ruinous policy of internal improvements on which the state was embarked.
After the expiration of his term as governor in 1844, he remained a resident of Frankfort until August 1849 when he was appointed minister to Mexico. In this office he acquitted himself satisfactorily. Upon his return to Kentucky in 1852 he became again a candidate for Congress but was beaten by J. C. Breckinridge, his Democratic opponent. This was the end of his political career and thereafter he lived quietly in retirement until his death.
Achievements
During Letcher's governorship, his fiscally conservative policies helped Kentucky recover from the financial Panic of 1837. By the end of his term, the state was experiencing budget surpluses and state banks had resumed specie payments. He had also a prominent part in bringing about the Clay-Adams combination in the presidential election of 1825.
Personality
Adams described him as a man of "moderate talents, good temper, playful wit, and shrewd sagacity".
Connections
Letcher was twice married: his first wife was Mary Oden Epps, his second, Charlotte Robertson who survived him. There were no children of either marriage.
