John Randolph, 1773-1833
John Randolph was a Virginia statesman and an early advocate of the States' Rights doctrine. Born 2 June 1773 in Prince George county, Virginia, he studied briefly at Princeton, Columbia, and William and Mary Colleges.
In 1799, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was reelected to the House, except for brief periods, for more than twenty years. From 1825 to 1827, he served in the U.S. Senate.
Randolph was a firm believer in states' rights. Like John Calhoun, he opposed the national bank and protective tariffs, although they disagreed on Western expansion and the War of 1812. Though he was said to dislike slavery, he owned more than 5000 acres of land with hundreds of slaves. Randolph maintained that the federal government had no constitutional right to legislate on the institution of slavery.
Bitterly opposing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (on the grounds that the law amounted to federal intrusion into areas where it lacked a constitutional mandate), he became a lifelong enemy of Henry Clay. Their dispute over the Missouri Compromise and Clay's support of John Quincy Adams in the election of 1824 led to a bloodless duel in 1826.
In frequent poor health, Randolph turned to alcohol and opium late in life. He lived alone on his plantation on the Little Roanoke River in present-day Charlotte county, Virginia. On 24 May 1833, Randolph died in Philadelphia, and was buried facing west (according to his own instructions) so that he could continue to keep an eye on his old enemy Henry Clay. Randolph's will ordered that all his slaves be freed.
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