John Randolph

Background

John Randolph was born on June 2, 1773, in Dawson, Virginia. His parents were John Randolph and Frances Bland. His father was a rich tobacco planter. Randolph’s family is among the founding families of Virginia. His father died in 1775 when he was only 2 years old. His mother remarried in 1778 to St.George Tucker, who was the son of a rich planter from Bermuda. Randolph’s family suffered from a genetic illness known as Klinefelters Syndrome which left him beardless. The syndrome also left him with a soft feminine soprano voice which remained like that for the rest of his life. When he was in his youth, Randolph suffered from tuberculosis. His brother also suffered from tuberculosis which led to his death. Randolph was a frequent opium user but he only used it to numb the pain caused by tuberculosis.

Randolph attended Walker Maury’s private school but left without completing his studies. His stepfather sent them to the College of New Jersey and Columbia but he dropped out due to a lack of money. He was later admitted to William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia but was expelled after getting into a fight with a fellow student over the correct pronunciation of a word.

Despite his many failures in school, Randolph was elected to the Sixth United States Congress when he was only 26 years old. He was also elected to the six succeeding U.S Congresses where he served from 1799 to 1813. He baffled critics as he both criticized and opposed slavery. Upon his death, Randolph freed all 383 slaves born at Roanoke and gave them each a piece of land. He disliked federalists William Plumer and other advocates of more democratic government. Randolph fought against the corruption of the Yazoo Fraud and worked for the impeachment of Justice Chase.