Peyton Randolph rose within Virginia's colonial legal and political establishment before becoming the first president of the Continental Congress. Trained at the Middle Temple in London, he returned to Virginia and became the colony's attorney general in 1744. He also served in the House of Burgesses, where legal expertise, family connections, and experience in public business helped establish his standing.

Randolph defended the assembly's interests without initially seeking a break with Britain. He traveled to London in connection with a dispute over land fees and later opposed parliamentary measures that Virginians regarded as threats to colonial rights. Elected speaker of the Burgesses in 1766, he occupied a central position as resistance to taxation and imperial intervention became more organized. In 1773 he chaired Virginia's committee of correspondence, helping coordinate communication with other colonies.

After the governor dissolved the assembly in 1774, Virginia's leaders continued their work through extralegal meetings and conventions. Randolph presided over the first Virginia convention and led the colony's delegation to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Elected its president in September 1774, he helped manage proceedings among delegates with different aims. Congress adopted a commercial boycott and formulated grievances while still seeking redress within an imperial framework.

He returned to Virginia for further political work and again presided when the Second Continental Congress assembled in May 1775. Duties at home required another return to Virginia, and John Hancock succeeded him in the chair. Randolph died in Philadelphia that October, before the Declaration of Independence. His wealth and public position rested partly on enslaved labor, a contradiction within the liberty defended by Virginia's governing elite. He brought colonial legislative procedures and authority into institutions increasingly independent of the crown.