Peyton Randolph and Revolutionary Virginia

In 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War, King George III's government adopted a secret policy to reduce the American colonies to "due subordinance" and exploit them. This policy brought on the American Revolution. In Virginia, the largest colony in size, population and wealth, there was virtually unanimous agreement that Britain's actions violated Virginia's constitutional rights. Yet Virginians were deeply divided as to a remedy. Peyton Randolph, Speaker of the House of Burgesses 1766-1775, was chairman of the first three Virginia Conventions and the First and Second Continental Congresses. He led the creation of new committees and associations independent of royal control and worked to unify the colony, keeping the conservatives from moving too slowly and the radicals from moving too swiftly. Virginia was thus the only major colony to enter the Revolution united, without also fighting an internal civil war. Considered by some historians as one of Jefferson's "less ardent colleagues," Randolph was a masterful politician who produced majorities for critical votes leading to revolution.