Edmund Randolph

Edmund Jenings Randolph (born August 10, 1753 in Williamsburg , Colony of Virginia , † September 12, 1813 in Millwood , Clarke County , Virginia ) was an American lawyer , governor of Virginia , secretary of state and the first United States Attorney General .

Life

Randolph was the son of a prominent immigrant family in Williamsburg. He trained as a lawyer at the College of William and Mary there . After successfully completing his studies, he worked in his father's company. In 1775, with the start of the American Revolution , most of the Randolph family returned to Britain . Edmund, however, went to the army and fought under General George Washington .

When his uncle Peyton Randolph died, he went back to Virginia as the administrator of the lands. A short time later he became Mayor of Williamsburg and the first attorney general ( Attorney General ) of the newly formed state of Virginia. In 1779 he was elected to the Continental Congress and held his post until 1782. During this time he also had his own legal practice.

In 1786 he was elected Governor of Virginia and in 1789 Washington appointed him the first United States Attorney General. From January 2, 1794 to August 20, 1795 he was US Secretary of State in the Washington cabinet .

As Secretary of State, he opposed the Jay Treaty with the Kingdom of Great Britain and unsuccessfully advised Washington not to sign it. In 1795 the British ambassador accused him of betraying secrets to the ambassador of France. After he vehemently denied this accusation to the president, he resigned as foreign minister.

He then returned to Virginia and worked as a private lawyer. Timothy Pickering was his successor as Secretary of State . Randolph died on September 12, 1813 on the Carter Hall estate of his friend Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Burwell (1750-1814).

literature

Jerald A. Combs: Edmund Randolph. In: Edward S. Mihalkanin (Ed.): American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell . Greenwood Publishing 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-30828-4 , pp. 416-420.
John J Reardon: Edmund Randolph: A Biography. Macmillan, New York 1975, ISBN 978-0-026012003 .

Web links

Edmund Randolph in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
Edmund Randolph in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Edmund Randolph in the National Governors Association (English)
Edmund Randolph (1794–1795) , short portrait at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Tom Lansford: Randolph, Edmund. In Spencer C. Tucker (Ed.): The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783-1812: A Political, Social, and Military History . Volume 1: A – K. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2014, ISBN 978-1-59884-157-2 , p. 566 .

personal data
SURNAME	Randolph, Edmund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Randolph, Edmund Jenings
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American lawyer, Virginia Governor, Secretary of State and first United States Attorney General
DATE OF BIRTH	August 10, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH	Williamsburg , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH	September 12, 1813
Place of death	near Millwood , Virginia

[1] Tom Lansford: Randolph, Edmund. In Spencer C. Tucker (Ed.): The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783-1812: A Political, Social, and Military History . Volume 1: A – K. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2014, ISBN 978-1-59884-157-2 , p. 566 .