Randolph, Peyton

RANDOLPH, PEYTON. (1721–1775). Crown official, first president of the Continental Congress. Virginia. Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1721, Randolph was the son of the wealthy and powerful Sir John Randolph. He went from William and Mary College, from which he did not graduate, to the Middle Temple in 1739 and was admitted to the bar in 1744. Returning the same year to Williamsburg as the colony's attorney general, he served in the House of Burgesses from 1748 until the termination of that assembly in 1775. When Randolph took the burgess's side in the pistole controversy of 1751–1754, he was dismissed as attorney general. In 1755 he organized a company of one hundred lawyers and other gentlemen who, at their own expense, moved out to support the survivors of Braddock's defeat. A major speculator in western lands, Randolph saw opportunity in the American conflict with the British Crown, overcoming his fear of the radical tendencies of some of his allies to become a leader of the Patriot cause. Randolph was elected speaker of the Burgesses in 1766, holding that office until he adjourned its last session in May 1775. Chairing the first three Virginia Conventions in 1774 and 1775, he topped the list of delegates to the first Continental Congress and became the first president of that body, serving from 5 September to 21 October 1774. In bad health, Randolph was succeeded by Henry Middleton on 22 October 1774 but was reelected to Congress on 10 May 1775. Two weeks later he had to give up this post, and five months later he died suddenly of apoplexy in Philadelphia on 22 October 1775. Randolph exemplified the manner in which even conservative political leaders were attracted to the rebellion against British rule. Many Virginians looked to him to keep the insurgency in check and guide it away from radicalism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Randolph Family Papers. Virginia Historical Society. Richmond, Va.

Reardon, John J. Peyton Randolph, 1721–1775. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1982.

                             revised by Michael Bellesiles