Editing Peyton Randolph

{{short description|Thirteen Colonies' Founding Father (1721–1775)}}
{{for|his great nephew and later governor of Virginia|Peyton Randolph (governor)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Peyton Randolph
| image               = PeytonRandolph.jpeg
| imagesize           = 
| order               = 
| caption             = 
| office              = 1st & 3rd [[President of the Continental Congress]]
| term_start         = May 10, 1775
| term_end           = May 24, 1775
| predecessor        = [[Henry Middleton]]
| successor          = [[John Hancock]]
| term_start1          = September 5, 1774
| term_end1            = October 22, 1774
| predecessor1        = Office established
| successor1          = [[Henry Middleton]]
| office2             = 33rd [[List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses|Speaker]] of the Virginia [[House of Burgesses]]
| term_start2         = 1766
| term_end2           = 1775
| predecessor2        = [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]
| successor2          = Office abolished
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1721|9|10}}
| birth_place         = [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]], [[Colony of Virginia]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1775|10|22|1721|9|10}}
| death_place         = [[Philadelphia]], [[Province of Pennsylvania]], British America
| resting_place       = [[Wren Building|Wren Chapel]], [[College of William & Mary]], Williamsburg, Virginia
| spouse              = Elizabeth Harrison
| parents             = [[Sir John Randolph]]<br />Susanna Beverley
| signature           = Peyton Randolph Signature.svg
| education           = [[College of William & Mary]]<br />
| relations           = [[Thomas Jefferson]] (cousin)
}}
[[File:US-Colonial (VA-69)-Virginia-4 Mar 1773 OBV.jpg|thumb|238px|Virginia colonial currency (1773) signed by Randolph and [[John Blair Jr.]]]]

'''Peyton Randolph''' (September 10, 1721 – October 22, 1775) was an American politician and planter who was a [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father of the United States]]. Born into Virginia's [[Randolph family of Virginia|wealthiest and most powerful family]], Randolph served as [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]] of Virginia's [[House of Burgesses]], president of the first two [[Virginia Conventions]], and [[President of the Continental Congress|president of the First Continental Congress]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/17/us/williamsburg-journal-where-the-past-lives-undisturbed-by-the-present.html|title=Williamsburg Journal; Where the Past Lives, Undisturbed by the Present|first=Francis X.|last=Clines|work=The New York Times |date=May 17, 2002|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/section/travel|title=Travel|work=The New York Times |via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> He also served briefly as president of the [[Second Continental Congress]].

In 1774, Randolph signed the [[Continental Association]], a trade boycott adopted by the [[First Continental Congress]] in response to the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]]'s [[Intolerable Acts]]. Randolph was a [[Cousin|first cousin once removed]] of [[Thomas Jefferson]] and was also related to [[John Marshall]], the fourth [[Chief Justice of the United States]], and [[Robert E. Lee]], commander of the [[Confederate States Army]] in the [[American Civil War]].

==Early life==
[[File:Coat of Arms of William Randolph.svg|175px|thumb|Coat of Arms of William Randolph]]
Randolph was born in Tazewell Hall, [[Randolph family of Virginia|his family]]'s estate in [[Williamsburg, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/research-and-education/|title=Colonial Williamsburg Research & Education|website=colonialwilliamsburg.org|accessdate=February 7, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/987717|jstor=987717|last1=Moorehead|first1=S. P.|title=Tazewell Hall: A Report on Its Eighteenth-Century Appearance|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|year=1955|volume=14|issue=1|pages=14–17|doi=10.2307/987717}}</ref><ref name=CongressBio>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000049 Peyton Randolph], Biographical directory of US Congress. Accessed February 7, 2024.</ref> His father was [[John Randolph (politician)|Sir John Randolph]], and his brother was [[John Randolph (loyalist)|John Randolph]]. Peyton Randolph was 15 when his father died. He attended the [[College of William & Mary]] and later studied law at [[Middle Temple]] at the [[Inns of Court]] in [[London]], becoming a member of [[bar (law)|the bar]] in 1743.<ref>[http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biorapey.cfm Peyton Randolph profile], history.org. Accessed February 7, 2024.</ref>

A lifelong resident of Williamsburg, the colony's capital, Randolph was to follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and [[Henry Soane|great-grandfather]], all of whom served as [[speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Four Centuries of House Speakers |url=https://www.vpap.org/visuals/visual/historic-house-speakers/ |website=vpap.org |publisher=The Virginia Public Access Project |access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

==Political career==
{{More citations needed | section|date=February 2024}}
In 1748, Randolph was appointed [[Attorney General of Virginia|attorney general]] of the Colony of Virginia and the same year was elected to the [[Virginia House of Burgesses]], where he would serve for the remainder of his life. It was Randolph's dual roles as attorney general and as burgess that would lead to an extraordinary [[conflict of interest]] in 1751. Governor [[Robert Dinwiddie]] had imposed a fee for the certification of [[land patent]]s, which the House of Burgesses strongly objected to. The House selected 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 by [[George Wythe]]. Randolph resumed his post on his return at the behest of Wythe as well as 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 colony's response to the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]]. The House appointed Randolph to draft objections to the act, but his more conservative plan was trumped when five of Henry's seven [[Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions]] passed. Henry's proposals were approved at a meeting of the House in which most of the members were absent and while Randolph was presiding in the absence of the speaker.

Randolph resigned as king's attorney (attorney general) in 1766, as fellow Burgesses elected him as their speaker upon the death of his relative, the powerful Speaker [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]. Sitting as the General Court, they also appointed Randolph one of the executors (along with Wythe and [[Edmund Pendleton]]) of the former speaker's estate, which was a [[John Robinson estate scandal|major financial scandal]]. As friction between Britain and the colonies progressed, Randolph grew to favor independence. In 1769 the House of Burgesses was dissolved by Governor [[Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt]], in response to its actions against the [[Townshend Acts]]. In 1773, Randolph chaired the Virginia [[Committees of correspondence|committee of correspondence]]. The next governor, [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore]], also dissolved the House of Burgesses in 1774 when it showed solidarity with [[Boston]], Massachusetts, following the [[Boston Port Act]].

Randolph chaired meetings of the first of five [[Virginia Conventions]] of former House members, principally at a Williamsburg tavern, which worked toward responses to the unwelcome tax measures imposed by the British government. On March 21, 1775, he was president of the Second Virginia Convention in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] that debated independence (the setting of Patrick Henry's famous "[[Give me liberty or give me death!]]" speech). In April, Randolph negotiated with Lord Dunmore for the removal of gunpowder from the Williamsburg arsenal during the [[Gunpowder Incident]], which was a confrontation between the governor's forces and Virginia militia, led by Henry.

The House of Burgesses was called back by Lord Dunmore one last time in June 1775 to address British Prime Minister [[Frederick North, Lord North|Lord North]]'s [[Conciliatory Resolution]]. Randolph, who was a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]], returned to Williamsburg to take his place as Speaker. Randolph indicated that the resolution had not been sent to the Congress (it had instead been sent to each colony individually in an attempt to divide them and bypass the Continental Congress). The House of Burgesses rejected the proposal, which was also later rejected by the Continental Congress.<ref>{{cite web|title=Virginia Resolutions on Lord North's Conciliatory Proposal, 10 June 1775|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0106|work=National Archives|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref>

Randolph was thus the last speaker of the House of Burgesses (their role was replaced by the Virginia Conventions and later the [[Virginia House of Delegates|House of Delegates]] in 1776). Randolph also served as the president of the Third Virginia Convention in July 1775, which as a legislative body elected a [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|committee of safety]] to act as the colony's executive since Lord Dunmore had abandoned the capital and took refuge on a British warship. Pendleton succeeded Randolph as president of the later conventions.

===Continental Congress===
Virginia selected Randolph as one of its delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 and 1775. Fellow delegates elected him their president (speaker) of both the [[First Continental Congress]] (which requested that King [[George III]] repeal the [[Intolerable Acts|Coercive Acts]] and passed the [[Continental Association]]) as well as [[Second Continental Congress]] (which extended the [[Olive Branch Petition]] as a final attempt at reconciliation). However, Randolph fell ill during each term. [[Henry Middleton]] of South Carolina succeeded him as president from his resignation on October 22, 1774, two days after presiding over the passage and signing of the Continental Association, until his return on May 10, 1775. He was again elected president of Congress, but Randolph left for Virginia four days later and was succeeded as president by [[John Hancock]].

==Death and legacy==

Randolph returned as a Virginia delegate but suffered a five-hour-long fit of [[apoplexy]] and died while dining with [[Thomas Jefferson]] in Philadelphia on October 22, 1775.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meacham |first1=Jon |title=Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power |date=2013 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=9780812979480 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QBwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94}}</ref> His remains were returned to Williamsburg and were interred at the chapel of the College of William & Mary. Since renamed the [[Wren Building]], Randolph remains buried in the chapel following its restoration.<ref>{{cite book|title=Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion|publisher=Virginia Library|date=1992|isbn=978-0884901730|page=317}}</ref> As the Continental Congress had assumed governmental duties for the colonies as a whole, such as appointing ambassadors, some consider Randolph to have been the first [[President of the United States]], even though he died in 1775.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.russpickett.com/ushist/uscont.htm|title=Continental Congress Presidents - 1774 to 1789|website=www.russpickett.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pfister |first=James |date= |title=Peyton Randolph...America's first president? |url=https://www.monroenews.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/07/21/peyton-randolphhellipamericarsquos-first-president/114345582/ |website=The Monroe News}}</ref>

The Continental Congress honored Randolph by naming one of the first naval frigates as the [[USS Randolph (1776)|USS ''Randolph'']], as well by naming a fort at the junction of the [[Ohio River]] and the [[Kanawha River]], as [[Fort Randolph (West Virginia)|Fort Randolph]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Brief History of Forts Randolph and Blair at Point Pleasant |url=http://pointpleasantwv.org/Parks&Campgrounds/Local/Fort_Randolph/forts_randolph_blair.htm|access-date=2021-06-26|website=pointpleasantwv.org}}</ref>

[[Randolph County, North Carolina]]; [[Randolph, Massachusetts]]; and [[Randolph County, Indiana]], were named to honor the colonial statesman.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Randolph County -NCpedia|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/geography/randolph#:~:text=Randolph%20County,%20located%20in%20the,president%20of%20the%20Continental%20Congress.|access-date=2021-03-01|website=www.ncpedia.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Randolph - Massachusetts, United States|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Randolph-Massachusetts|access-date=2021-03-01|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=IHB|date=2020-12-07|title=Origin of Indiana County Names|url=https://www.in.gov/history/about-indiana-history-and-trivia/explore-indiana-history-by-topic/origin-of-indiana-county-names/|access-date=2021-03-01|website=IHB|language=en}}</ref> During World War II, the early ''Essex''-class aircraft carrier [[USS Randolph (CV-15)|USS ''Randolph'' (CV-15)]] was named for him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Randolph II (CV-15)|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/randolph-ii.html|access-date=2021-03-01|website=NHHC|language=en-US}}</ref> The [[Peyton Randolph House]] in [[Colonial Williamsburg]] was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peyton Randolph House|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1037&ResourceType=Building|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011063301/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1037&ResourceType=Building|archive-date=October 11, 2012|access-date=August 7, 2020|website=National Park Service| date=16 April 2003 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |first=John |last=Reardon |title=Peyton Randolph, 1721–1775: One Who Presided |year=1981 |publisher=Carolina University Press |isbn=0-89089-201-6 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000049 Randolph's Congressional Biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926222256/http://www.vahistorical.org/dynasties/index.htm Virginia Colonial Dynasties VA Historical Society {Reference only}]
* {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Randolph, Peyton|short=x}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Randolph, Peyton |volume=22 |page=887 |short=x}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{S-new|creation}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[President of the Continental Congress|President of the First Continental Congress]]|years=September 5, 1774{{spaced ndash}}October 21, 1774}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Henry Middleton]]}}
{{S-bef| before=[[Henry Middleton]]<br />''(as President of the First Continental Congress)''}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[President of the Continental Congress|President of the Second Continental Congress]]|years=May 10, 1775{{spaced ndash}}May 24, 1775}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John Hancock]]}}
{{S-bef| before=[[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses|Speaker]] of the Virginia [[House of Burgesses]]|years=1766{{spaced ndash}}1775}}
{{S-non|reason=Abolished}}
{{S-end}}
{{Presidents of the Continental Congress}}
{{Signers of the Continental Association}}
{{Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Peyton}}
[[Category:1721 births]]
[[Category:1775 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:18th-century American planters]]
[[Category:Slave owners from the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Beverley family (Virginia)]]
[[Category:College of William & Mary alumni]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Virginia]]
[[Category:Harrison family (Virginia)]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:Politicians from Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:Randolph family (Virginia)|Peyton]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses]]
[[Category:Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category:Burials at the College of William & Mary]]
[[Category:Signers of the Continental Association]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]
[[Category:18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]]