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Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American attorney and politician.
Background
Edmund Jennings Randolph was born on August 10, 1753 at "Tazewell Hall, " near Williamsburg, Virginia. His father, John Randolph, his uncle, Peyton Randolph, and his grandfather, Sir John Randolph, had been King's attorneys, and for generations members of the family had been prominent in the province. His mother was Ariana Jenings, daughter of Edmund Jenings, at one time King's attorney of Maryland. In boyhood he had the fortunate opportunity of meeting in his home, at the family table, many of the most distinguished men of his time.
Education
He naturally attended the College of William and Mary, and he studied law under his father.
Career
The latter was a Loyalist and followed Lord Dunmore to England. Edmund was thereupon taken into the family of his distinguished uncle, Peyton Randolph. Bearing letters from prominent Virginians, he presented himself in August 1775 at Cambridge and received from Washington an appointment as aide-de-camp. His uncle having died, he returned to Williamsburg and at the age of twenty-three became the youngest member of the Virginia convention that adopted the first constitution for the state. Under the new state government he became attorney general. He was also mayor of Williamsburg.
In the spring of 1779 he was elected to the Continental Congress, retaining however his position as attorney general of Virginia. He threw his influence in the state in favor of the import duty of five per cent that was asked by Congress.
On November 7, 1786, he was elected governor against Richard Henry Lee and Theodorick Bland. He was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention and to the Federal Convention of 1787. He probably had considerable influence in securing Washington's acceptance of membership in the latter body. Randolph was put forward in the Federal Convention to propose the famous Virginia Plan, and also drew a draft, perhaps the first, of the work of the committee of detail, to which he was appointed on July 24, 1787.
In company with George Mason, he declined to sign the completed Constitution because he thought it insufficiently republican. He had stated that he regarded "a unity in the Executive magistracy" as "the foetus of monarchy" and had favored an executive department of three men. The single executive being accepted, he had advocated his being made ineligible for reëlection. Since the committee of detail worked from Randolph's draft, many of the features of the completed Constitution are similar to it. A second convention, after sufficient time for discussion, Randolph thought eminently desirable. He wrote a Letter on the Federal Constitution (1787), in criticism of the document.
However, when the time came for Virginia to act upon it, in the state convention of 1788, despite bitter criticism of him for inconsistency, he stood with Madison and Marshall in advocating ratification, his reason being that "the accession of eight states reduced our deliberations to the single question of Union or no Union".
Under the new government, Washington, who had every reason to be familiar with the abilities and character of Randolph, appointed him attorney general. This position he filled with credit, but with embarrassment on account of the effort he made to be non-partisan in the conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton. When Jefferson retired as secretary of state, Randolph filled the office from January 2, 1794, to August 19, 1795.
The position was extremely difficult. While Randolph endeavored to continue an independent rôle, Hamilton regarded himself as a kind of premier and took a keen interest and an active part in foreign affairs. These were in tangled condition and the people of the United States were divided in their opinions and affections as respected France and Great Britain. Randolph got rid of the offensive French minister, Edmond Charles Genet, but protected him from arrest as requested by the French government.
He approved of the recall of Gouverneur Morris, minister to France, and the appointment of James Monroe as his successor. He ably upheld the interest of the United States in his correspondence with Fauchet, Genet's successor, and advised Monroe with reference to his negotiations with the French government, at times finding that Monroe went too far in his manifestations of affection for France. In addition to infringing upon the rights of the United States as a neutral, Great Britain had failed to fulfil the terms of the treaty of 1783, retaining the western posts and failing to surrender negroes that had been carried off.
The situation became so acute that, under the influence of Hamilton and his friends and with the approval of Randolph, Washington decided to send a special envoy to England. Randolph was opposed to the selection of Hamilton, the first choice of the group that were engineering the special mission, and though personally friendly to John Jay, was opposed to him for this appointment. In addition to other grounds of opposition, Randolph personally objected to the appointment of a justice of the Supreme Court as a diplomatic agent and thought Jay should resign his judicial position.
Randolph, with advice from Hamilton and others, drew the instructions to Jay. They covered the ground of the protection of American rights and authorized the negotiation of a commercial treaty. To this latter grant of power Randolph was opposed. His efforts to keep Jay in line with his own thinking were attended by great difficulty.
The time required for communication, the lack of complete sympathy between the envoy and the Secretary of State, and the persistent interference by Hamilton in foreign affairs, both in his dealings with Jay and with the British minister in America, Hammond, created a complicated and embarrassing situation for Randolph.
Jay treated him with formal courtesy, but did not refrain from lecturing him. The treaty as negotiated by Jay came far short of carrying out the detailed instructions given him, and the Senate refused to accept the twelfth article, which pledged the United States not to export molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton.
Randolph was favorable to the ratification of the treaty without this article, provided an Order in Council authorizing the seizure of ships laden with provisions should be withdrawn. Washington apparently supported Randolph's position up to the time when the Secretary of State came under serious criticism for his relations with the French minister, Fauchet. While Randolph was having difficulty enough dealing with Jay, he was finding it hard to satisfy Monroe and France. Monroe was kept purposely in semi-darkness about the full purpose of Jay's mission. The French were naturally suspicious and, when the contents of Jay's Treaty were known, protested that it violated the treaty obligations of the United States to France. Randolph was compelled to maintain that it did not. Negotiations with Spain during his period of service resulted, soon after his retirement, in the Treaty of San Lorenzo, according to which the free navigation of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth was assured American citizens and the southern boundary was established according to the terms of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain.
Randolph's retirement was brought about by revelations through the British minister of intercepted communications of the French minister, Fauchet, to his government. Fauchet had written a rambling account in which he seemed to imply that Randolph made improper revelations to him and indicated that French money would be welcome. When called in question by Washington, under humiliating circumstances, Randolph resigned. Fauchet denied that he meant any reflections on his honor, and Randolph himself wrote an elaborate vindication. Withdrawing to Richmond, Randolph entered again upon the practice of law and became a leading legal figure. His accounts with the government were called in question and settled, but were allowed to encumber the books of the Treasury Department and embarrass the friends of Randolph until 1889, when the criminal carelessness that had gone on for nearly a century was revealed in a report called for under a resolution offered by Senator Daniel of Virginia. His greatest prominence in later years was as senior counsel for Aaron Burr in the famous treason trial. He spent his leisure time in writing a history of Virginia, most of which was destroyed by fire, the rest being preserved in manuscript for posterity in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society.
He succumbed to the family disease of paralysis, which some years before had overtaken him, on September 12, 1813.
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Connections
On August 29, 1776, he was married to Elizabeth Nicholas, daughter of Robert Carter Nicholas, the state treasurer. Among their four children, a son and three daughters, were Peyton, who married Maria Ward, once engaged to John Randolph of Roanoke, and Lucy, who married Peter V. Daniel. Peyton's son Edmund became a distinguished lawyer in California.