speaker of the House of Burgesses (their role was replaced by the Virginia Conventions and later the House of Delegates in 1776). Randolph also served as the president of the Third Virginia Convention in July 1775, which as a legislative body elected a committee of safety to act as the colony's executive since Lord Dunmore had abandoned the capital and took refuge on a British warship. Pendleton succeeded Randolph as president of the later conventions. Continental Congress Virginia selected Randolph as one of its delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 and 1775. Fellow delegates elected him their president (speaker) of both the First Continental Congress (which requested that King George III repeal the Coercive Acts and passed the Continental Association) as well as Second Continental Congress (which extended the Olive Branch Petition as a final attempt at reconciliation). However, Randolph fell ill during each term. Henry Middleton of South Carolina succeeded him as president from his resignation on October 22, 1774, two days after presiding over the passage and signing of the Continental Association, until his return on May 10, 1775. He was again elected president of Congress, but Randolph left for Virginia four days later and was succeeded as president by John Hancock. Death and legacy Randolph returned as a Virginia delegate but suffered a five-hour-long fit of apoplexy and died while dining with Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia on October 22, 1775. His remains were returned to Williamsburg and were interred at the chapel of the College of William & Mary. As the Continental Congress had assumed governmental duties for the colonies as a whole, such as appointing ambassadors, some consider Randolph to have been the first President of the United States, even though he died in 1775. The Continental Congress honored Randolph by naming one of the first naval frigates as the USS Randolph, as well by naming a fort at the junction of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers as Fort Randolph. Randolph County, North Carolina, Randolph, Massachusetts, and Randolph County, Indiana, were named to honor the colonial statesman. During World War II, the early Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Randolph (CV-15) was named for him. The Peyton Randolph House in Colonial Williamsburg was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. References Further reading External links Randolph's Congressional Biography Virginia Colonial Dynasties VA Historical Society {Reference only} 1721 births 1775 deaths American people of English descent