Edmund Randolph: A Biography, by John J. Reardon (Like New, HCw/DJ, Vintage, 1st

Description: Review (2016, 5 stars): Reardon’s biography of Edmund Randolph is well-written and detailed. The details are well integrated into the narrative and this is one of the better biographies of someone usually overlooked in the founding of the country. The best features of the book I thought were the inner workings of the Constitutional Convention as experienced by Randolph and his experiences as the first Attorney General. The hardcover is 517 pages but that is misleading. There are 365 pages of text and the remainder is appendices and notes. Most of the Virginia founders were planters but not Randolph. He grew up in Williamsburg to a family already established in the city and political life of the colony. That alone provides a different perspective for the reader. His father, John, became a Tory sympathizer and eventually emigrated to England. His uncle Peyton, on the other hand, was one of the strongest of the early American revolutionary figures. The choice between his father’s loyalty to Britain and his uncle’s choice for America provided Randolph’s first major choice in his life. His subsequent help in forming the Constitution, then his refusal to sign it, then his change of heart in the ratification process provided another major turning point in his life. Reardon does a fine job spelling out what the issues were to Randolph and the reasons for his change of heart. Randolph somewhat grudgingly accepted Washington’s request to be Attorney General and served the President until 1795. As Reardon documents well, Randolph became Washington’s trusted advisor as a mediator on positions between the battles of Hamilton and Jefferson. The series of events that then brought him humiliation and forced him to resign are hard to fathom until one realizes that, like now, small errors can be magnified by certain people into life-changing events. Randolph’s overreaction to these events also caused him to lose one of his closest friends, the President. I knew nothing about the details of Randolph’s work in the Cabinet and about his subsequent fall until I read this book. It is a compelling story. If you want to get into depth on some areas surrounding the founding that you may not be familiar with, I highly recommend this book. It is both a strong personal story and the story of one man’s participation in some of the major crises at the beginning of American government.

Price: 3.79 USD

Location: Plattsburgh, New York

End Time: 2024-11-06T21:58:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.63 USD