John Randolph of Roanoke
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| John Randolph | |
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U.S. Senator, Virginia
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| In office 1825–1827 |
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| Preceded by | James Barbour |
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| Succeeded by | John Tyler |
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| Born | June 2, 1773 Cawsons, VA |
| Died | May 24, 1833 Philadelphia, PA |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
| Profession | Planter |
| Religion | Episcopalian (disputed) |
John Randolph (June 2, 1773 – May 24, 1833), known as John Randolph of Roanoke[1], was a leader in Congress from Virginia during the First Party System and spokesman for the "Old Republican" or Quids faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that wanted to restrict the federal government's roles.
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[edit] Biography
He was born at Cawsons, Virginia (now in Hopewell, Virginia), He was the son of rich tobacco planter John Randolph and Frances Bland. A peculiar illness as a young man left Randolph beardless and highvoiced.
He studied under private tutors, at private schools, the College of New Jersey, and Columbia College, New York City. He studied law in Philadelphia, but never practiced. At an unusually young age Randolph was elected to the Sixth and to the six succeeding Congresses (1799 to 1813). Federalist William Plumer 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 Republican party leader. After breaking with President Thomas Jefferson in 1806, he founded the faction Tertium quids that called on Republicans to return to the Principles of 1798 and renounce what they saw as creeping nationalism.
Although he greatly admired the political ideals of the previous Revolutionary generation, Randolph, influenced by Southern anti-Federalism, propounded a version of republicanism that relied on the traditional patriarchal society of Virginia's elite gentry to preserve social stability with minimal government interference. Randolph was one of the Congressional managers who conducted the successful impeachment proceedings against John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire, in January 1804. But critics complained that he mismanaged the failed effort in December of the same year against Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was defeated for reelection in 1812, but elected in 1814 and 1816, skipped a term, and served from 1819 until his resignation in 1825. Randolph was appointed to the Senate in December 1825, to fill a vacancy and served until 1827. Randolph was elected to the Congress in 1826, chairing the Committee on Ways and Means.
Randolph was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention at Richmond in 1829. He was appointed United States Minister to Russia by President Andrew Jackson and served from May to September, 1830, when he resigned for health reasons. Elected again in 1832 he served until his death in Philadelphia on May 24, 1833. He is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "Randolph of Roanoke," although written after the Virginian had become a symbol of the "slave power," capture his strange brilliance:
- Mirth, sparkling like a diamond shower,
- From lips of life-long sadness;
- Clear picturings of majestic thought
- Upon a ground of madness
- While others hailed in distant skies
- Our eagle's dusky pinion,
- He only saw the mountain bird
- Stoop o'er his Old Dominion!
- All parties feared him; each in turn
- Beheld its schemes disjointed,
- At right or left his fatal glance
- And spectral finger pointed
A modern conservative political group, the John Randolph Club, is named after Randolph. Randolph-Macon College and Randolph-Macon Woman's College (to be renamed Randolph College on 01 July 2007) also bear his name.
[edit] Eccentricity and outsider status
Despite being a Virginia gentleman, one of the great orators in the history of Congress, and House leader, Randolph after 5 years of leadership became (1803) a permanent outsider and eccentric. Randolph had personal eccentricities as well—worsened by his lifelong ill health (he died of tuberculosis), his heavy drinking, and his occasional use of opium. He once fought a duel with Henry Clay, but otherwise kept his bellicosity to the floor of Congress.
In 1819, John Randolph, a wealthy Virginia planter, landowner, and slave owner, wrote in his will a provision for the freedom of his slaves after his death. Three years later in 1822, in a codicil to that will, he stipulated that money be provided to transport and settle these freed slaves in some other state (Ohio).
[edit] Religion
Randolph was raised and remained within the Episcopalian Church.
Historians reject assertions that Randolph at any time was a Muslim; the only evidence is one letter in 1818 where said that as a youth he rooted for the Muslim side when reading about the Crusades.[2]
[edit] Quotes
"We all know our duty better than we discharge it."
"I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality."
[In reference to the Embargo Act of 1807] "It can be likened to curing corns by cutting off the toes."
[edit] Works
- John Randolph. Letters of John Randolph, to a Young Relative, 1834, 254pp.
- John Randolph. Collected letters of John Randolph of Roanoke to Dr. John Brockenbrough, 1812-1833, edited by Kenneth Shorey; foreword by Russell Kirk, Transaction Books, 1988. ISBN 0-88738-194-4
[edit] References
- Henry Adams. John Randolph (1882); New Edition with Primary Documents and Introduction by Robert McColley,1996, ISBN 1-56324-653-8; negative assessment.
- William Cabell Bruce. John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833; a biography based largely on new material, in 2 volumes, New York, London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922 (2nd revised edition in 1 volume 1939, reprinted New York, Octagon Books, 1970); exhaustive details
- Robert Dawidoff; The Education of John Randolph, New York, Norton, (1979), ISBN 0-393-01242-5
- Russell Kirk. Randolph of Roanoke; a study in conservative thought, (1951), 186 pp. Short essay; recent editions include many letters **John Randolph of Roanoke: a study in American politics, with selected speeches and letters, 4th ed., Indianapolis, IN : Liberty Fund, 1997, 588 pp. ISBN 0-86597-150-1; focus on JR's political philosophy
- Norman K. Risjord; The Old Republicans: Southern Conservatism in the Age of Jefferson (1965) the standard history of the Randolph faction.
- Tate, Adam L. "Republicanism and Society: John Randolph of Roanoke, Joseph Glover Baldwin, and the Quest for Social Order." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 2003 111(3): 263-298.
- ^ Roanoke refers to Roanoke Plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia, not to the city of the same name.
- ^ No one who knew him considered him othern than a Christian. There is no evidence that he ever owned or read a Qur'an, pronounced the shahadah, said daily prayers facing Mecca, or fasted in Ramadan (which are the basic requirements of a convert).Embracing Islam. Retrieved on Jan. 21, 2007
