{"record":{"affiliations":[{"polityId":"polity-3fcc9adb88012825729f2b2c","sourceIds":["growth-person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-secretary-randolph-edmund-jennings"]}],"aliases":["Edmund Jennings Randolph"],"appointmentIds":[],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-5365af8ce8/","countrySlug":null,"countrySlugs":["france","united-kingdom","spain"],"entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-5365af8ce8/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Edmund Randolph served as United States Secretary of State from 1794 to 1795, when war between Britain and revolutionary France threatened American neutrality. A Virginia lawyer and Revolutionary War aide to George Washington, he had introduced the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention and become the first federal attorney general. His promotion to the State Department followed Thomas Jefferson’s resignation.","Randolph worked to settle the controversy surrounding the French minister Edmond-Charles Genêt and supported renewed negotiations with Spain over boundaries and American navigation of the Mississippi. He opposed provisions of the Jay Treaty with Britain that he believed would restrict neutral commerce with France. Washington’s support for that agreement sharpened Randolph’s conflict with the Federalists in the cabinet, who favored closer British ties.","His opponents used an intercepted dispatch by the French minister Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet to accuse him of disclosing confidential information and seeking money. Randolph denied wrongdoing, but Washington’s loss of confidence brought his resignation in 1795. He returned to legal practice and later represented Aaron Burr during the former vice president’s treason trial. His brief secretaryship unfolded at the point when disputes over neutrality and trade became part of the emerging division between Federalists and Republicans."],"id":"global:person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596","identifiers":{},"identityScope":"global","legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-5365af8ce885377d664c.html","name":"Edmund Randolph","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["growth-person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-secretary-randolph-edmund-jennings"],["growth-person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-secretary-randolph-edmund-jennings"],["growth-person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-secretary-randolph-edmund-jennings"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-5365af8ce885377d664c.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-11-04","revision":"35767921a906aaf4","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-1892cff3238b4fd8ce03f596-secretary-randolph-edmund-jennings","locator":"Introduction, Rise to Prominence, Influence on American Diplomacy, and service chronology","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Edmund Randolph","type":"institutional","url":"https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/randolph-edmund-jennings"}],"topics":[]},"schemaVersion":1}