American politician (1773–1833)
John Randolph (June 2, 1773 – May 24, 1833), commonly known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was an American planter, and a politician from Virginia, serving in the House of Representatives at various times between 1799 and 1833, and the Senate from 1825 to 1827. He was also Minister to Russia under Andrew Jackson in 1830. After serving as President Thomas Jefferson's spokesman in the House, he broke with the president in 1805 as a result of what he saw as the dilution of traditional Jeffersonian principles as well as perceived mistreatment during the impeachment of Samuel Chase, in which Randolph served as chief prosecutor. Following this split, Randolph proclaimed himself the leader of the "Old Republicans" or "Tertium Quids", a wing of the Democratic-Republican Party who wanted to restrict the role of the federal government. Specifically, Randolph promoted the Principles of '98, which said that individual states could judge the constitutionality of central government laws and decrees, and could refuse to enforce laws deemed unconstitutional.
Described as a quick-thinking orator with a remarkable wit, he was committed to republicanism and advocated a commercial agrarian society throughout his three decades in Congress. Randolph "attracted great attention from the severity of his invectives, the piquancy of his sarcasms, the piercing intonation of his voice and his peculiarly expressive gesticulation." Randolph's conservative stance, displayed in his arguments against debt and for the rights of the landed, slaveholding gentry, have been attributed to his ties to his family estate and the elitist values of his native Southside Virginia. His belief in the importance of a landed gentry led him to oppose the abolition of entail and primogeniture: "The old families of Virginia will form connections with low people, and sink into the mass of overseers' sons and daughters". Randolph vehemently opposed the War of 1812 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820; he was active in debates about tariffs, manufacturing, and currency. With mixed feelings about slavery, he was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society in 1816, to send free blacks to a colony in Africa. At the same time, he believed that slavery was a necessity in Virginia, saying, "The question of slavery, as it is called, is to us a question of life and death ... You will find no instance in history where two distinct races have occupied the soil except in the relation of master and slave." In addition, Randolph remained dependent on hundreds of slaves to work his tobacco plantation. However, he provided for their manumission and resettlement in the free state of Ohio in his will, providing money for the purchase of land and supplies. They founded Rossville, now part of Piqua, Ohio and Rumley, Ohio.
His supporters admired Randolph's fiery character, and education was one of his passions. On the other hand, others, particularly northern advocates of democracy, mocked Randolph for his eccentricities discussed below, as did many Virginians including Thomas Jefferson. He applied rousing methods in electioneering, which he also enjoyed as a hobby. Randolph appealed directly to yeomen, using entertaining and enlightening oratory, sociability, and community of interest, particularly in agriculture. This resulted in an enduring voter attachment to him. His defense of limited government appeals to modern and contemporary conservatives, most notably Russell Kirk, who wrote an influential monograph on Randolph.
Early life and education.
Randolph was born at Cawsons (now in Hopewell) in the Colony of Virginia, the son of rich tobacco planter John Randolph (1742–1775) and Frances Bland (1744–1788). His families, the Randolph family of Virginia and the Bland family of Virginia, are both among the prominent First Families of Virginia and often intermarried. His grandfathers were Richard Randolph and Theodorick Bland of Cawsons, who were, respectively, the son and grandson of William Randolph and Mary Isham of Turkey Island. He was the first cousin once removed of both Richard Bland and Peyton Randolph, the two pillars of the First Continental Congress, the nephew of Congressman Theodorick Bland and stepnephew of Thomas Tudor Tucker, a half brother of Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. and Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, and a second cousin of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's mother was the daughter of Isham Randolph of Dungeness.
His father died in 1775, when he (the youngest of three brothers, and ultimately the longest-lived) was two years old. Their mother managed the family plantations and waited to remarry until 1778, when she wed St. George Tucker, the son of a prominent planter in Bermuda (where he later took his stepsons to recover their health), who had traveled to Virginia to study law under George Wythe in Williamsburg, was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1774, became well-regarded in his profession (including teaching law at the College of William and Mary) and would become a judge of what later became the Virginia Supreme Court in 1804. His maternal fourth great-grandfather was Richard Bennett of Virginia, elected governor of Virginia colony during the Cromwell Protectorate and a Puritan who in 1672 was converted to the Quaker movement by George Fox.
Health issues.
A genetic aberration — possibly Klinefelter syndrome — left him beardless and with a soprano prepubescent voice throughout his life.
Modern science has established that latent pulmonary tuberculosis can sometimes settle in the genital tract and can cause the symptoms and permanent damage that would prevent the onset of puberty. Randolph's brother died of tuberculosis, and it appears that Randolph contracted it as a youth and never went through puberty. He finally died of tuberculosis at age 60, after it broke out into the open. He began to use opium as a way to deal with the extreme pain caused by his lifelong battle with tuberculosis. Contemporary accounts attest to his having had a belligerent and bellicose personality before the onset of any disease.
Education.
First studying under private tutors, Randolph attended Walker Maury's private school. After one of his brothers was disciplined, the Randolph brothers beat Maury and left the boarding school without completing their studies. Their stepfather then sent them to College of New Jersey, and Columbia College, New York City. The Randolph brothers neglected their studies and spent much time in taverns. After failing their courses and running out of money, they returned to Virginia. John later studied law in Philadelphia under his cousin Edmund Randolph, but never practiced. In 1792, his family's wealth and influence gained him admission to William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Convinced that his pronunciations of words were the only correct ones, he insulted fellow student Robert B. for allegedly mispronouncing a word. Randolph refused to apologize and a duel ensued. Randolph soon after left William and Mary, thus ending his formal education.
Political career.
In 1798, at the unusually young age of 26, Randolph was elected to the 6th United States Congress. It was said that Randolph's youthful appearance prompted the Speaker of the House, Theodore Sedgwick, to ask Randolph whether he was old enough to be eligible, but that Randolph's reply — "Ask my constituents" — disinclined Sedgwick to pursue the question further. Randolph was re-elected to the six succeeding Congresses, and served from 1799 to 1813. Even though he frequently criticized slavery, he devoted much of his congressional career to defending slavery and Virginia's class of wealthy slaveholders. Randolph also insisted that abolition would be worse for both enslaved blacks and whites. Indeed, Randolph lionized Virginia's wealthy slaveholding class as the rightful rulers of Virginia and the United States, and had great disdain for democracy and the advocates of more democratic government in Virginia and the Union.
Federalist William Plumer of New Hampshire wrote in 1803 of his striking presence:
Mr. Randolph goes to the House booted and spurred, with his whip in hand, in imitation, it is said, of members of the British Parliament. He is a very slight man but of the common stature. At a little distance, he does not appear older than you are; but, upon a nearer approach, you perceive his wrinkles and grey hairs. He is, I believe, about thirty. He is a descendant in the right line from the celebrated Indian Princess, Pochahontas. The Federalists ridicule and affect to despise him; but a despised foe often proves a dangerous enemy. His talents are certainly far above mediocrity. As a popular speaker, he is not inferior to any man in the House. I admire his ingenuity and address; but I dislike his politics.
Randolph was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the Seventh through the Ninth Congresses, acting as the Democratic-Republican Party leader. In 1804, Randolph proposed the ill-fated Mobile Act, which implicitly allowed the President to claim parts of Spanish West Florida for the US. The Act was passed, and Jefferson tried to act on it, but Spain objected vehemently. Jefferson backed down and threw blame on Randolph.
After this, Randolph broke with Jefferson (his cousin). In 1806, Randolph founded the "Tertium quids" (Latin for "Third things", i.e. neither pro-Jefferson nor Federalist), a breakaway faction of the Democratic-Republican Party. They called for a return to the Principles of 1798 and renounced what it saw as creeping nationalism. The Tertium Quids believed that wealthy slaveholders like themselves were the rightful rulers of Virginia and the nation, and that any movement towards greater democracy would undermine the power and authority of Virginia's slaveholding class.
Although he greatly admired the political ideals of the Revolutionary War generation, Randolph, influenced by Southern anti-Federalism, propounded a version of republicanism that called for the traditional patriarchal society of Virginia's elite slaveholding gentry to preserve social stability with minimal government interference. Randolph was one of the House managers who successfully prosecuted the impeachment trial of John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire, in January 1804.
Randolph was also a central proponent of impeaching Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Chase. Later that same year, Chase was impeached but acquitted. Randolph again served as a House manager, and critics complained that he mismanaged the prosecution.
In June 1807, Randolph was the foreman of the grand jury in Richmond, which was considering the indictment of Aaron Burr and others for treason. By the end of the review, he was angry with Thomas Jefferson for supporting General James Wilkinson, Burr's chief accuser. He considered Wilkinson less than a reputable and honorable person.
Defeated for re-election in 1812 due to his opposition to the War of 1812, Randolph was elected in 1814 and 1816. He skipped a term, then was again elected and served from 1819 until his resignation in 1825. During the Missouri Crisis, Randolph emerged as an outspoken defender of the slaveholding gentry and a critic of democracy, even though he repeatedly insisted that he hated slavery.
Randolph was asked to be the Democratic-Republican Party candidate for president in the 1824 presidential election. He declined this offer; the election was won by John Quincy Adams.
Randolph was appointed to the Senate in December 1825 to fill a vacancy, and he served until 1827. During his time in the Senate, his pro-Adams colleagues, annoyed by the bitterness of his invective, sometimes foreshortened his speeches "by severally quitting their seats when he was speaking to an extent sufficient to leave the Senate without a quorum."
In 1825, he spoke for several days in opposition to a series of measures proposed by President Adams. Randolph argued these measures would give advantage to the emerging industrial powers of New England at the expense of the Southern states. This series of speeches was the first Senate filibuster.
With his Senate term ending, Randolph did not seek re-election. Instead he was again elected US Representative in 1826, and again became Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.
John Randolph offered many pro-slavery speeches over his long career in Congress. He mocked universal emancipation as an unreliable fantasy. Speaking about Cuba, Randolph said "It is unquestionable but this invasion will be made with this principle – this genius of universal emancipation – the sweeping anathema against the white population... And then, sir, what is the position of the southern United States?" If we should accede, "we should deserve to have negroes for our taskmasters, and for the husbands of our wives."
Randolph retired from the US House in 1828. He was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830 as a delegate from Charlotte County. He was appointed United States Minister to Russia by President Andrew Jackson and served from May to September 1830,