Ryland Fletcher was the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856, and then was the 24th Governor of Vermont

Governor of Vermont

The Governor of Vermont is the governor of the U.S. state of Vermont. The governor is elected in even numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years; Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every two years, instead of every four...

 from 1856 to 1858. After leaving office, he served in the Vermont legislature and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1870. In his early years he worked on his father's farm and taught in a local school. He was a member of the Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 state militia, where he attained the rank of Brigadier-General.

Fletcher was a member of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings in 1856. Fletcher had said that "immigrants brought with them the 'mortal disease (of) monarchy and despotism, of Romanism

Romanism

Romanism was a word used as a derogatory term for Roman Catholicism in the past when anti-Catholicism was more common in the United States and the United Kingdom...

 and heathenism... which left unchecked would sweep away our most cherished liberties and dearist institutions.'"

External links

• National Governors Association