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John Randolph ( June 2 , 1773 – May 24 , 1833 ) was a Representative and a Senator from Virginia , USA . He was born in Cawsons, Virginia , and was known as '''John Randolph of Roanoke''' to distinguish him from relatives. In this case, ''Roanoke'' refers to Roanoke Plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia , not to the City of the same name. He was the son of John Randolph and Frances Bland . BIOGRAPHY 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, Pennsylvania , 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:
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 Federalism and 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:
A modern conservative political group, the John Randolph Club , is named after Randolph. 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 (1806) 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. One day Randolph invited a man to dinner, then promptly forgot about the invitation. When the man arrived at dinnertime, Randolph answered the door personally and stated, "Sir, I am not at home." Rather than call Randolph a liar and risk a duel, the man apologized and excused himself to return at a time when Randolph would be at home. 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). QUOTES "I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality." WORKS
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