End date July 17, 1868 Role Legal case | Name Ryland Fletcher Succeeded by James M. Slade | |
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Ruling court Judicial functions of the House of Lords Similar Bolton v Stone, Vaughan v Menlove, Brown v Kendall, Donoghue v Stevenson, Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd | ||
Ryland Fletcher (February 18, 1799 – December 19, 1885) was an American farmer, politician, the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856, and then was the 24th Governor of Vermont from October 10, 1856 to October 10, 1858.
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Biography
Fletcher was born in Cavendish, Vermont, and in his early years he worked on his father's farm. He attended Norwich University, from which he graduated in 1824 and taught in a local school during the winter months. He married Mary May on June 11, 1829, and they had three children. He was the brother of United States Representative Richard Fletcher and Horace Fletcher; and the father of Col. Henry Addison Fletcher, who served in the Civil War, a state senator, and Lieutenant Governor of Vermont.
Career
When Fletcher was eighteen, he became a member of the Vermont state militia, where he attained the rank of Brigadier General in 1835. He was a noted anti-slavery and temperance advocate who served in the Vermont State Senate, and he became a Republican when the party was founded in the 1850s.
In 1854, Fletcher was the nominee of the Whig, Free Soil, and Liberty Parties, and won the election as Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. Nominated by the newly formed Republican Party, he was re-elected in 1855. He was a strong proponent of biennial rather than annual gubernatorial elections and was a tireless worker for the anti-slavery and temperance causes. After the State House burned down in an 1857 fire, he called a special legislative session to plan for rebuilding. In 1858, he called the first muster and training of the Vermont militia since the Mexican War. That training proved useful at the start of the Civil War.
Fletcher was a member of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings after the demise of the Whigs, and said that "immigrants brought with them the 'mortal disease (of) monarchy and despotism, of Romanism and heathenism... which left unchecked would sweep away our most cherished liberties and dearist institutions.'" He became a Republican when the party was founded in the 1850s.
After leaving the governorship, Fletcher served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1861 to 1864, and a Presidential Elector for Vermont in 1864. He received an honorary degree of master of arts from Dartmouth in 1869. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1870.
Death
Fletcher died in Cavendish, and is interred at Cavendish Village Cemetery, Cavendish, Vermont.