| Leonard U. Hill, the late Piqua historian, in his article published in the Cincinnati Historical Society newsletter of July 1965, describes the venerable John Randolph as being among the "First Gentlemen" of colonial Virginia. Randolph (1773-1833), boasting the Indian princess Pocahontas as one of his ancestors, was elected to Congress in 1799, where he soon became the Democratic party leader. He disagreed with Thomas Jefferson frequently, opposed the declaration of war in 1812 against Great Britain, and vigorously argued against the expansion of slavery into the new state of Missouri. He also opposed President Andrew Jackson on the nullification question (Randolph was in favor of nullification), a political theory, based on states’ rights, that allows individual states to suspend federal laws within their boundaries. Although there are proponents of nullification today, the last time Federal law was nullified was at the outset of the Civil War when South Carolina, followed by other southern states, seceded from the Union. | 
John Randolph |
| Randolph served in the U.S.
Senate from 1825 to 1827, and in 1830 he was appointed minister to Russia. John
Randolph, politician, statesman and owner of a 6,000 acre plantation and hundreds of
slaves, was an emancipationist who died in 1833 leaving three wills, two of which
manumitted (freed) his slaves. The earliest will, dated 1819, specified, "I give
and bequeath to all my slaves their freedom, heartily regretting that I have ever been the
owner of one." Other provisions set aside $8,000 for transporting and settling his freed slaves in another state or territory of the United States. Each former slave above the age of 40 was to receive no less than 10 acres of land in this new place. Codicils of 1826, 1828, and 1831 were added, with the 1828 supplement reading, "Being in great extremity, but in my perfect senses, I write this codicil to my will in the possession of my friend, Wm. Leigh (Leigh was Randolph’s cousin), of Halifax, esquire to declare that will is my sole last will and testament, and that if any other be found of subsequent date whether will or codicil, I do hereby revoke the same." His final will written in 1832 upon his return from Russia, in Europe, directed that the bulk of his slaves be sold. Upon his death bed it is reputed that his final thoughts, after never being married, were about his slaves, their welfare, and that they should be manumitted. [Back] [Next] [Up] [New Search] 'Black History' segment written in June, 1998 by David Lodge |
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