Defending Freedom: The Birth of American Justice
The American Revolution began as colonial protests against British taxation and lack of representation in Parliament, eventually erupting into armed conflict at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and culminating with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war lasted eight years, featuring pivotal battles at Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown and crucial assistance from European allies, particularly France. The conflict concluded with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the American Revolution and recognized the United States as an independent nation.
Edmund J. Randolph
1st Attorney General, 1789 - 1794
At the onset of the American Revolution, Randolph's Loyalist parents departed Virginia for England. Despite his parents’ allegiances, Randolph supported the revolutionaries’ cause and, in August 1775, joined the Continental army as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, who had been commissioned its commander-in-chief. He had served in that capacity just a few months when the unexpected death of his uncle, Peyton Randolph, president of the Second Continental Congress, compelled him to leave the Army to escort the body home to Virginia and settle his uncle’s affairs.
William Bradford
2nd Attorney General, 1794 - 1795
Bradford served in the Pennsylvania militia for a short time before joining the Continental Army as a captain in July 1776. Bradford declined the offer of a seat in the Second Continental Congress to remain in the Army, where he served until April 1779 when poor health forced him to retire from uniform at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Charles Lee
3rd Attorney General, 1795 - 1801
Lee is the brother of Henry Lee, III, whose service as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution earned him the nickname by which he is best known, “Light Horse Harry.” Lee held the post of naval officer of the Potomac River District during the War, an appointment he obtained as early as 1779. In 1789, when President George Washington appointed him customs collector at Alexandria.
Levi Lincoln
4th Attorney General, 1801 - 1805
Lincoln evinced such a zeal for independence that he joined a Massachusetts militia unit for a time, then turned his hand to writing a series of appeals to patriotism entitled "Farmer's Letters." During the remainder of the War, Lincoln practiced law in Worcester and steadily rose to prominence.
John Breckinridge
5th Attorney General, 1805 - 1806
Breckenridge is thought to have served as a subaltern in the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War, though some historical accounts differ. His brother was James Breckinridge, who during the War served in a company of Botetourt County riflemen that his uncle Colonel William Preston commanded and later served as an ensign under General Nathanael Greene in North Carolina.
Caesar A. Rodney
6th Attorney General, 1807 - 1811
Rodney was born in Dover, Delaware, on January 4, 1772. He was the son of Thomas Rodney, Continental Congressman from Delaware, and nephew of Caesar Rodney, also a Continental Congressman from Delaware and signer of the Continental Association (1774) and Declaration of Independence (1776).
Richard Rush
8th Attorney General, 1814 - 1817
Rush, the youngest person ever appointed Attorney General at age 34, was born on August 29, 1780, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
