Alexander Randall

Alexander Williams Randall (October 31, 1819July 26, 1872) was a lawyer, judge and politician from Wisconsin. He served as the sixth Governor of Wisconsin from 1858 until 1861. He was instrumental in raising and organizing the first Wisconsin volunteer troops for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Life and career Randall was born in Ames, New York, on October 31, 1819. His father, Phineas, was judge of the court of common pleas there from 1837 to 1841. Randall attended Cherry Valley Academy in New York then studied law with his father. He was admitted to the bar in New York at age 19. Shortly after that, he moved to Wisconsin Territory. He opened a law practice in Waukesha in 1840, where he became postmaster in 1845. Randall was a delegate to the state's first constitutional convention in 1846. There he successfully advocated for a resolution that would put the question of "Negro suffrage" to a statewide referendum. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 1855 session and was the Republican Party's first candidate for Attorney General of Wisconsin, running unsuccessfully in the 1855 election. From 1855 to 1857, he was a circuit judge in Milwaukee. Randall was elected governor in 1857 as a Republican, and won re-election in 1859. He was a dark horse candidate in 1857. The two principal candidates in the convention that year were Edward D. Holton of Milwaukee and Walter McIndoe of Wausau. Holton's abolitionist passions and his connections with the Milwaukee elite gave him strong support, but McIndoe's more rough-hewn personality resonated better with the frontier character of the state at the time. As such, they split the vote, neither able to garner a majority for the nomination. When it became apparent that the convention was at an impasse, and the delegates were released from their obligation, the votes eventually were cast in favor of Randall, the obvious compromise candidate.