Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Randolph, Edmund Jennings

Edmund Jennings Randolph served as U.S. attorney general and SECRETARY OF STATE during the administration of President GEORGE WASHINGTON. Randolph previously had played a central role in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.

Randolph was born on August 10, 1753, in Williamsburg, Virginia. He attended William and Mary College and then studied law with his father, who was a prominent lawyer and the king's attorney in the colony of Virginia. As the American Revolution approached, Randolph sided with the independence movement, while his father remained loyal to the crown. In 1775 Randolph's father, mother, and sisters left for England.

In 1775 Randolph briefly served in the Virginia militia as an aide to George Washington

before returning to manage his...