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RANDOLPH, Edmund Jenings, (nephew of Peyton Randolph),
a Delegate from Virginia; born in Williamsburg, Va., August 10, 1753; was
graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; studied law; was admitted to the
bar and commenced practice in Williamsburg; served in the Revolutionary Army and was
aide-de-camp to General Washington; attorney general of Virginia in 1776; Member of the
Continental Congress in 1779, 1781, and 1782; elected governor of Virginia in 1786 but resigned in
1788 to serve in the state house of delegates in order that he might participate in the codification of the
laws of Virginia in 1788 and 1789; delegate to the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in 1787; was
appointed the first Attorney General of the United States, in the Cabinet of President Washington, on
September 26, 1789; transferred to the State Department as Secretary of State on January 2, 1794,
and served until August 19, 1795, when he was requested to resign following charges (subsequently
found to be false) preferred by Minister Fauchet of France; was the principal counsel for Aaron Burr
when the latter was tried for treason; died in Clarke County, Va., September 12, 1813; interment in
the Old Chapel Cemetery, Millwood, Va.
BibliographyReardon, John J. Edmund Randolph.
New York: Macmillan, 1975.
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