Letcher, Robert P.

Born: 1788-02-10 Goochland County, Virginia

Died: 1861-01-24 Frankfort, Kentucky

Flourished: Kentucky

Letcher studied law and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1813 to 1815, 1817, and again from 1836 to 1838. First an Adams-Clay Republican and later an anti-Jacksonian, Letcher served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1823 to 1835. Letcher served as governor of Kentucky from 1840 to 1844, and was afterwards appointed by President Zachary Taylor as envoy and minister to Mexico, in which post he served from 1849 to 1852.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1388.