Peyton Randolph
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Peyton Randolph
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| In office 1766 – 1775 |
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| Preceded by | John Robinson |
| Succeeded by | none |
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President of the Continental Congress
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| In office September 5, 1774 – October 22, 1774 |
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| In office May 10, 1775 – May 24, 1775 |
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| Born | September 10, 1721 Williamsburg, Virginia |
| Died | October 22, 1775 (aged 54) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Peyton Randolph (September 10, 1721 – October 22, 1775) was a planter and public official from the Colony of Virginia. He served as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, chairman of the Virginia Conventions, and President of the Continental Congress.
Randolph was born in Virginia to a prominent family. His parents were Sir John Randolph and Susannah Beverley; his brother was John Randolph. He was also the grandson of William Randolph. He attended the College of William and Mary, and later studied law at Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in London, becoming a member of the bar in 1743. He then returned to Williamsburg and was appointed Attorney General of the Colony of Virginia the next year.
Randolph served several terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses, beginning in 1748. It was his dual roles as attorney general and as burgess that would lead to an extraordinary conflict of interest in 1751.
The new governor, Robert Dinwiddie, had imposed a fee for the certification of land patents, which the House of Burgesses strongly objected to. The House selected Peyton Randolph to represent their cause to Crown authorities in London. In his role as attorney general, though, he was responsible for defending actions taken by the governor. Randolph left for London, over the objections of Governor Dinwiddie, and was replaced for a short time as attorney general. He was reinstated on his return at the behest of officials in London, who also recommended the Governor drop the new fee.
In 1765 Randolph found himself at odds with a freshman burgess, Patrick Henry, over the matter of a response to the Stamp Act. The House appointed Randolph to draft objections to the act, but his more conservative plan was trumped when Henry obtained passage of five of his seven Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions. This was accomplished at a meeting of the House in which most of the members were absent, and over which Randolph was presiding in the absence of the Speaker.
Randolph resigned as attorney general in 1766. As friction between Britain and the colonies progressed, he became more in favor of independence. In 1769 the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the Governor in response to its actions against the Townshend Acts. Randolph had been Speaker at the time. Afterwards, he chaired meetings of a group of former House members at a Williamsburg tavern, which worked toward responses to the unwelcome tax measures imposed by the British government.
Randolph was elected as presiding officer in both the First and Second Continental Congresses, in large part due to his reputation for leadership while in the House of Burgesses. He did not, however, live to see American independence; Randolph died in Philadelphia, and was buried at Christ Church. He was later re-interred at the College of William and Mary chapel.
Randolph County, North Carolina, formed in 1779, and two United States Navy ships called USS Randolph were named in his honor, as is the Peyton Randolph elementary school in Arlington, Virginia.
Randolph's house survives and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Known as Peyton Randolph House, it is shown to the public as part of the Colonial Williamsburg complex.
[edit] Family ties
- His nephew, Edmund Randolph, became the first United States Attorney General.
- His wife was the sister of Benjamin Harrison V.
- His first cousin once removed was President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph's husband Thomas Mann Randolph was a descendant of Peyton's uncle Richard Randolph and his wife Jane Bolling, a descendant of Pocahontas.
- His first cousin twice removed was Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
- His niece Lucy Grymes married Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. Her first cousin once removed, also named Lucy Grymes, married Henry Lee II (who was in fact Peyton Randolph's first cousin once removed), and was the mother of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, who was the father of Confederate General Robert Edward Lee.
- He is also related to the Confederate Generals Fitzhugh Lee, Edmund Jennings Lee, Nelson Pendelton Lee, and Richard L. Page; and to US Admiral Samuel P. Lee.
- Confederate General John Pegram married Hetty Cary, a cousin to the Randolphs.
[edit] Further reading
- John Reardon, Peyton Randolph, 1721-1775: One Who Presided, 1981, Carolina University Press; ISBN 0-89089-201-6.
[edit] External links
- Randolph's Congressional Biography
- Virginia Colonial Dynasties VA Historical Society {Reference only}
- Peyton Randolph at Find a Grave
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| Preceded by (none) |
President of the First Continental Congress September 5, 1774 – October 21, 1774 |
Succeeded by Henry Middleton |
| Preceded by Henry Middleton (as President of the First Continental Congress) |
President of the Second Continental Congress May 10, 1775 – May 24, 1775 |
Succeeded by John Hancock |
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