Edmund Randolph (12 August 1753-12 September 1813) was the Federalist Governor of Virginia from 1 December 1786 to 1 December 1788 (succeeding Patrick Henry and preceding Beverley Randolph), United States Attorney General from 26 September 1789 to 26 January 1794 (preceding William Bradford), and United States Secretary of State from 2 January 1794 to 20 August 1795 (succeeding Thomas Jefferson and preceding Timothy Pickering).
Biography[]
Edmund Randolph was born in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1753, the son of John Randolph and the nephew of Peyton Randolph. He served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, while his Loyalist father emigrated to England. Randolph served as Attorney General of Virginia from 1776 to 1786, Governor of Virginia from 1786 to 1788, United States Attorney General from 1789 to 1794, and as Secretary of State from 1794 to 1795, rising in the ranks due to his advocacy for the Virginia Plan for a new national government and his role in creating the US Constitution (while refusing to sign it due to its insufficient number of checks and balances, in Randolph's opinion). Randolph affiliated himself with the Federalist Party while attempting to bridge the gap between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. While he advised President George Washington against the Jay Treaty, he was discredited after it was revealed that he had written letters to the French revealing the partisan squabbles in the Washington administration and claiming that America hated revolutionary France; the Royal Navy intercepted and captured the letter and brought it to Washington, who pressured Randolph to resign. Randolph died in Millwood, Virginia in 1813.
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