biography
| name: |
Randolph, John
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| |
known as John Randolph of Roanoke
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1773–1833)
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| biography:
| US representative and orator, born in Prince George Co, Virginia, USA. The second cousin of Edmund Randolph, he was educated initially by his stepfather, and proved a restless but brilliant student who never stayed long with a particular college or tutor. A reckless horseman, he cut a swashbuckling pose in the US House of Representatives (Democrat-Republican, Virginia, 1799–1813), defending the Jeffersonians against the Federalists as chairman of the Standing Committee on Ways and Means. A sarcastic and witty speaker, he was really a party of one who alienated Northern Democrats and quarrelled with Jefferson, then opposed the War of 1812, which cost him the next election. Returning to the House (1815–17, 1819–25), he strongly opposed the Missouri Compromise. After an erratic two years in the Senate (1825–7), during which time he fought a duel (1826) with Henry Clay over some political insult, he returned to the House (1827–9) and led the opposition to John Quincy Adams. He served briefly as President Andrew Jackson's ambassador to Russia (1830), returning to his rustic home, ‘Roanoke’, where chronic ill health drove him to drink and opium. At his death he freed his slaves. |
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