Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 – September 12, 1813) was an American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.

Randolph was born on August 10, 1753 to the influential Randolph family in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was educated at the College of William and Mary. After graduation he began reading law with his father John Randolph and uncle, Peyton Randolph. In 1775, with the start of the American Revolution, Randolph's father remained a Loyalist and returned to Britain; Edmund Randolph remained in America where he joined the Continental Army as aide-de-camp to General George Washington.

Upon the death of his uncle Peyton Randolph in October 1775 Randolph returned to Virginia to act as executor of the estate, and while there was elected as a representative to the Virginia Convention. He would go on to serve as mayor of Williamsburg, and then as the first Attorney General of the United States under the newly-formed government. He was married on August 29, 1776 to Elizabeth Nicholas (daughter of Robert C. Nicholas), and had a total of six children, including Peyton Randolph, Governor of Virginia from 1811 to 1812.

Oney "Ona" Judge, known as Oney Judge Staines after marriage (c. 1773 – February 25, 1848), was born at Mount Vernon in Virginia as one of the dower slaves of Martha Custis Washington, the wife of the planter and future president George Washington's plantation. A personal servant to Martha, Judge was taken to Washington's presidential households beginning in 1789; she escaped to freedom in 1796 in Philadelphia. With the aid of the free black community, she took a ship to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and lived nearby for the rest of her life.

Washington's representatives contacted her twice to try to persuade her to return but, since the president would not guarantee her freedom after his and his wife's deaths, Judge refused. She married and had three children in New Hampshire. More is known about her than any other of Washington's slaves because in the mid-1840s, she was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers.

Oney was born about 1773 at Mount Vernon, the plantation of George Washington, to Betty, an enslaved seamstress, and Andrew Judge, an English tailor and indentured servant. She was described later in life as "nearly white." Among her family was a half-brother Austin, who was about 15 years older.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."