Liberty Fund Books

Description

John Randolph of Roanoke—Roanoke being the name of his home in Charlotte County, Virginia—is unique in American political history. Only twenty-six when first elected to Congress in 1799, he readily became the most forceful figure at the Capitol. An incomparable orator, he was also, in the observation of Dumas Malone, "a merciless castigator of iniquity."

For most of his public career Randolph was a leader of the opposition—to both Jeffersonians and Federalists. He was, writes Russell Kirk, "devoted to state rights, the agricultural interest, economy in government, and freedom from foreign entanglements." Above all things Randolph cherished liberty, and he famously declared, "I love liberty; I hate equality.

"This fourth edition incorporates the corrections and modest revisions provided by the author shortly before his death in 1994. Among the new material is a transcription of the first-hand account of Randolph's death that relates information long deemed apocryphal. The account is by Dr. Joseph Parrish, who was at Randolph's side when he died in 1833.

Russell Kirk (1918–1994) was the author of some thirty books, including The Conservative Mind, and was one of the seminal political thinkers of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Contents
Publishing History 9
Preface to the Third Edition 11
1.Randolph and This Age 15
2.The Education of a Republican 27
3.The Basis of Authority 41
4.The Division of Power 85
5.The Planter-Statesman 123
6.The Cancer 155
7.Change Is Not Reform 191
Appendix I: Selected Letters 229
To St. George Tucker (December, 1788) 229
To Theodore Dudley (January, 1806) 231
To Theodore Dudley (February, 1806) 233
To the Southside Freeholders (May, 1812) 238
To Francis Scott Key (May, 1813) 243
To Harmanus Bleeker (July, 1814) 245
To a New England Senator (December, 1814) 249
To John Brockenbrough (September, 1818) 267
To Harmanus Bleeker (October, 1818) 273
To Harmanus Bleeker (November, 1818) 277
To Theodore Dudley (December, 1821) 279
To John Brockenbrough (July, 1824) 282
To John Brockenbrough (January, 1829) 287
To John Brockenbrough (February, 1829) 288
To Thomas A. Morton (December, 1830) 289
Appendix II: Selected Speeches 293
Debate on the Georgia Claims (January, 1805) 294
Debate on the Yazoo Claims (February, 1805) 311
Debate on Mr. Gregg’s Motion (March, 1806) 323
Speech Against War with England
(December, 1811) 355
Speech on the Treaty-Making Power
(January, 1816) 379
Speech on the Greek Cause (January, 1824) 398
Speech on Surveys for Roads and Canals
(January, 1824) 413
Speech on Executive Powers (March, 1826) 439
Speech on Amendment of the Constitution
(April, 1826) 473
Speech on Retrenchment and Reform
(February, 1828) 477
Speeches at the Virginia Convention (1829–30) 533
In Defense of Freehold Suffrage 533
On the Landed Interest 535
On the County Courts 536
On King Numbers 542
A Randolph Chronology 569
A Select Bibliography 571
Index 581