Ratliff Boon

Ratliff Boon (* January 18, 1781 in Franklin County, North Carolina, † November 20, 1844 in Louisiana, Missouri ) was an American politician and in 1822, the second Governor of the State of Indiana.

Early years and political rise

Very early drew Boon with his parents in the Warren County in Kentucky. There he attended primary school and learned the trade of gunsmith. In 1809 he moved into what is now Warren County, Indiana. This district was established in 1813 and Boon was responsible for the finances as treasurer of the county.

After Indiana was admitted as a state in the United States in 1816, Boon was elected to the first House of Representatives of the new State. There, however, he remained only one year. In 1818 he was elected to the Democratic- Republican Party in the state Senate and a year later the Lieutenant Governor. As the incumbent Governor Jonathan Jennings on September 12, 1822 resigned from his post to go to Congress, Boon had his current term end until 5 December 1822. At the time of taking office the next gubernatorial election had already taken place and with William Hendricks, his successor was already decided. In the same elections in August 1822 Boon had been re-elected as vice-governor. This office he held then by the end of his short time as governor again.

Congressman

Boon took effect on January 30, 1824 back as lieutenant governor, because he wanted to apply for a seat in Congress. Between 1825 and 1827 he represented the first electoral district of his state in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. In 1826, he missed the re-election, but two years later he returned as a Democrat in Congress back in which he remained on 4 March 1829 to 3 March 1839. There he was, among others, Chairman of the Committee for the administration of state-owned land. 1836 failed an attempt to change the House of Representatives in the U.S. Senate. After the end of his career in Congress, he moved to Missouri. There he died in 1844.

Private life

Ratliff Boon was married to Deliah Anderson, with whom he had eight children. He was buried at the Riverview Cemetery in Louisiana.