Meriwether Lewis Randolph

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Meriwether Lewis Randolph (born January 10, 1810 on Monticello near Charlottesville , Virginia , † September 24, 1837 in Clark County , Arkansas ) was an American planter , land speculator and politician .

Life

Meriwether Lewis Randolph was the ninth child and fourth son of Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson Randolph , daughter of the third US President Thomas Jefferson . On April 9, 1835, he married Elizabeth Martin, a great-niece of the then seventh US President Andrew Jackson . They had a son whom they named Lewis Jackson Randolph (1836-1840).

Randolph received a classical education and he studied law , moral philosophy and natural philosophy from 1829 to 1831 at the University of Virginia , which was founded in 1819 on the business of his grandfather Thomas Jefferson .

In 1829 Randolph went to Washington, DC , the capital of the United States, as a student . The then US President Andrew Jackson became aware of him through his relationship with Thomas Jefferson . Jackson became Randolph's mentor and promoter. Randolph served briefly in the United States Department of State and was one of the directors of Jackson's inauguration ball in 1833 after his re-election in 1832 .

politics

Eventually, Randolph decided to pursue a career on the western frontier . On February 23, 1835, President Jackson named him Secretary of State for the Arkansas Territory . This territory was part of the Louisiana Territory , which his grandfather Thomas Jefferson acquired from the French in 1803 as US President ( Louisiana Purchase ). Randolph held this post until June 15, 1836, when Arkansas became a US state .

Land speculator and planter

In the Arkansas Territory, land speculation became the most lucrative business. The fertile soils and easy access by steamboats thanks to the Ouachita River made the state of Arkansas suitable for the establishment of cotton plantations . After the end of Randolph's tenure as Secretary of State in 1836 made Andrew Jackson by several letters Randolph with interested capitalists from the East Coast known who wanted to invest in the country. Randolph was for her as Agent operates and bought thousands of acres of land in various counties .

With the money he earned, Randolph bought himself 6,000 acres of land in southeast Clark County in 1836 . In 1837 he bought 4,229 acres. In the summer of 1837 he cultivated 300 acres and built a Dogtrot hut where he, his wife Elizabeth, and his son Lewis lived. Randolph planned to build a large house on his plantation based on the model of his grandfather Thomas Jefferson in Monticello . His first harvest was cotton .

death

In September 1837, Randolph went on a two-week trip to get supplies for the winter. He fell ill after constant rainfall and died of malaria on September 24, 1837 . Since he left no will , his wife Elizabeth had to return to Tennessee with their son Lewis . Randolph's 10,000-acre cotton plantation was closed. He was buried there. In 1960 the "Daughters of the American Colonists" donated a memorial stone to him.

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personal data
SURNAME Randolph, Meriwether Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American planter, land speculator, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Monticello , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1837
Place of death Clark County , Arkansas