page_title: Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.
section_title: Sale of Edgehill
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. / Political and military career / Sale of Edgehill
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Jefferson's daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph.
context_page_description: Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. was an American planter, soldier, and politician from Virginia. He served as a member of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, a Representative in the U.S. Congress, and as the 21st Governor of Virginia, from 1819–1822. He married Martha Jefferson, the oldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. They had eleven children who survived childhood. As an adult, Randolph developed alcoholism, and he and his wife separated for some time before his death.
context_section_description: Randolph and his wife became estranged toward the end of his life, in part because of the stress created by their tenuous financial situation. After inheriting his father's debts upon his death, Randolph had struggled to provide for his younger siblings in addition to his own growing family. The Virginian economic situation suffered several blows, and by the end of his life Randolph's lands were worth far less than they had been when he inherited them. In 1825, in desperation, the Randolphs had to sell their main property, Edgehill, along with its crops, buildings, animals, and slaves, and even this was not enough money to pay back all the family's creditors. Opposed to slavery on principle, the Randolphs attempted to keep their slaves' families together, but facing the prospect of having to disperse the community that lived on their land, Martha wrote that "The discomfort of slavery I have borne all my life, but it's sorrows in all their bitterness I had never before conceived."
  The loss of his property was humiliating for Randolph, since in Virginian society at that time men had to own a certain amount of land before being allowed to hold office or even to vote. Randolph, who had always had a temper, became increasingly angry toward his wife's father, his sons, and Martha herself, feeling that they did not do enough to save Edgehill but focused on saving Thomas Jefferson's estate, Monticello, instead. Monticello was also in danger of being sold due to debts and the poor economy, but most members of the family believed that it would provide a better chance for them than would the more heavily encumbered Edgehill property. At times Randolph became irrational, and his angry outbursts caused all his adult children to distance themselves from him. He left Martha and their younger children at Monticello with her father, Thomas Jefferson, and lived alone for several years. After Jefferson's death, Martha Randolph moved with her two youngest children to Boston to gain distance from her husband, and to spend time with her older daughter. Randolph and his wife were reconciled shortly before his death, and he was cared for at Monticello. Randolph died there and was interred in the Jefferson family burial ground.
caption: Portrait of Martha Jefferson Randolph.
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