The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

EDMUND RANDOLPH

Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American politician. He was born in 1753 at Williamsburg, Virginia and died in 1813. Educated at William and Mary college, he was a member of Congress from 1779 until 1782 and governor of Virginia from 1786 until 1788. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787 he proposed what is known as the Virginia Plan, a scheme to establish two Houses on a population basis, and expressed himself strongly against a single executive. Although he refused to sign the final draft, he recommended Virginia to accept it rather than endanger the Union. While Secretary of State between 1794 and 1795, being suspected of attempting to obtain money from France in exchange for stirring up ill-feeling against Great Britain, re resigned.
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