1785 Edmund Randolph Signed Virginia Legal Document — 4,400-Pound Tobacco Debt — Circa 1785

Original partly printed legal pleading completed in manuscript, King William County, Virginia, circa 1785, signed “Edm: Randolph” as counsel for the plaintiff. Court annotations on the reverse extend through 1788.

The action was brought by John Hatley Norton against Thomas Robertson and Herbert Claiborne to recover 4,400 pounds of net tobacco under a sealed obligation dated December 20, 1781. The pleading also claims £10 in damages. Reverse annotations record a jury finding for the plaintiff, one penny damages, costs, and subsequent procedural entries.

The document offers a tangible connection between Virginia’s tobacco economy and the legal career of Edmund Randolph, who subsequently served as Governor of Virginia, introduced the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention, and became the first United States Attorney General and second Secretary of State.

Randolph’s signature appears at the lower right. Offered as a document signed; authorship of the remaining handwritten text has not been established.

Condition: Substantial wear, including extensive fold separations, tears, edge losses, scattered holes, pronounced ink staining, and an old transparent tape repair across part of a horizontal separation. Some text is affected. Randolph’s signature remains readable. One sheet, written and printed on both sides.