Peyton Randolph

After studying law in London, Peyton Randolph was appointed King's attorney for Virginia (1748). He was elected a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1764-1774) and served as speaker in 1766. Later he chaired the committee of correspondence (1773) and was elected president of the Virginia conventions of 1774 and 1775. Randolph was elected to the First Continental Congress on 5 Aug 1774. When the Congress convened in Philadelphia on 5 Sep 1774, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina nominated Randolph to be president. He was elected by unanimous vote.

The first matter to be considered by the Congress was "A Plan of Union of Great Britain and the Colonies," but a conflict in Boston overcame the effort at conciliation. The Plan of Union was discarded by a narrow margin. On 14 Oct 1774, the Declaration and Resolves established the course of the congress, which then voted to meet again the following year if these grievances were not attended to by England. During the meeting of Congress on 22 Oct 1774, it was announced that Peyton Randolph relinquished the office "being unable to attend, on account of indisposition." In fact, he left the Congress to attend the session of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Randolph was re-elected to the Second Continental Congress on 25 Mar 1775, which assembled in Philadelphia. Randolph was again elected president on 10 May 1775 by anonymous vote. He served for only two weeks and on 24 May 1775 left for his hometown to preside at the Third Virginia Convention, called by Governor Lord Dunmore. Randolph died five months later. [3]