(August 10, 1753–September 13, 1813), was an American Revolutionary leader. He was a member of the Continental Congress and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was the Governor of Virginia, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of State.
On June 28, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, following the historical address and appeal for prayer by Dr. Benjamin Franklin (which ended the heated debates over state representation), Edmund Jennings Randolph of Virginia proposed:
That a sermon be preached at the request of the convention on the 4th of July, the anniversary of Independence; & thenceforward prayers be used in ye Convention every morning.1440
Both houses of Congress have been opened with prayers ever since.1441
On July 4th, according to the proposal by Edmund Jennings Randolph of Virginia, the entire Constitutional Convention assembled in the Reformed Calvinistic Church to hear a sermon by Rev. William Rogers. His prayer was a reflection of the hearts of all the delegates, following the convicting admonition of Dr. Franklin:
We fervently recommend to the fatherly notice … our federal convention. … Favor them, from day to day, with thy inspiring presence; be their wisdom and strength; enable them to devise such measures as may prove happy instruments in healing all divisions and prove the good of the great whole … that the United States of America may form one example of a free and virtuous government. …
May we … continue, under the influence of republican virtue, to partake of all the blessings of cultivated and Christian society.1442