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Richard Henry Lee

 
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Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 June 19, 1794) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 statesman from Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after shooting in the American Revolutionary War had begun....
 calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. His famous resolution
Lee Resolution

The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies to be independent of the British Empire....
 of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with Kingdom of Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire....
, which Lee signed. He also served a one-year term as the President of the Continental Congress
President of the Continental Congress

The President of the Continental Congress was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that emerged as the first national government of the United States during the American Revolution....
, and was a U.S. Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
 from Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as one of the first Presidents pro tempore
President pro tempore of the United States Senate

The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate and the highest-ranking senator. The United States Constitution states the Vice President of the United States serves ex officio as President of the Senate, and is the highest-ranking official of the Senate even though he or she only votes in the cas...
.

Early life
Lee was born in Stratford
Stratford Hall Plantation

Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States, was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, and was the birthplace of Robert E....
, Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Virginia

Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the population was 16,718....
 in the Colony of Virginia on January 20, 1732.






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Quotations


To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them..

Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer 53, 1788





Encyclopedia


Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 June 19, 1794) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 statesman from Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after shooting in the American Revolutionary War had begun....
 calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. His famous resolution
Lee Resolution

The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies to be independent of the British Empire....
 of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with Kingdom of Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire....
, which Lee signed. He also served a one-year term as the President of the Continental Congress
President of the Continental Congress

The President of the Continental Congress was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that emerged as the first national government of the United States during the American Revolution....
, and was a U.S. Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
 from Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as one of the first Presidents pro tempore
President pro tempore of the United States Senate

The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate and the highest-ranking senator. The United States Constitution states the Vice President of the United States serves ex officio as President of the Senate, and is the highest-ranking official of the Senate even though he or she only votes in the cas...
.

Early life


Lee was born in Stratford
Stratford Hall Plantation

Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States, was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, and was the birthplace of Robert E....
, Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Virginia

Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the population was 16,718....
 in the Colony of Virginia on January 20, 1732. Richard was the son of Col. Thomas Lee
Thomas Lee (Virginia colonist)

Thomas Lee was a leading political figure of colonial Virginia. He was a member of the Lee family, a political dynasty which included many figures from the pre-Revolutionary War era until the late 20th century....
, Hon. (1690-1750) and Hannah Harrison Ludwell (1701-1750). He was the great-uncle of Confederate
Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven Southern United States U.S. state of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S....
 General
General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
 Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee , was a career United States United States Army officer , an engineer, and among the most celebrated generals in American history....
. His nephew, Light Horse Harry Lee earned minor fame during the Revolution, and is now mainly remembered as the father of Robert E. Lee.

Richard was sent to England and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School is an independent fee-paying school in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. QEGS is distinct from most other schools in that it was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield 75 in total and some of whom formed the first governing body....
 in Yorkshire
Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
. In 1752 he returned to Virginia, where he began to practice law.

Early career

In 1757, Lee was appointed justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace

A Justice of the Peace is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a letters patent to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions....
 for Westmoreland County. In 1758 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses

The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first elected lower house in the legislature in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619....
, where he met Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was a prominent figure in the American Revolution, known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential advocates of the American Revolution and Republicanism in the United States, especially in his denunciations of c...
. An early advocate of independence, Lee became one of the first to create Committees of Correspondence among the many independence-minded Americans in the various colonies.

American Revolution

In August 1774, Lee was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress
First Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen Kingdom of Great Britain North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution....
 in Philadelphia. In Lee's Resolution on the 7th of June 1776 during the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after shooting in the American Revolutionary War had begun....
, Lee put forth the motion to the Continental Congress to declare Independence from Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a country in North-West Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801....
. which read (in part):

Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.


Lee had returned to Virginia by the time Congress voted on and adopted the Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with Kingdom of Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire....
, but he signed the document when he returned to Congress.

Quotes

“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

“The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well being of society.”

Political offices

  • Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland County, Virginia (1757)
  • Virginia House of Burgesses (1758 - 1775)
  • Member of the Continental Congress (1774 - 1779, 1784 - 1785, 1787)
  • A Signer of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
  • Virginia State House of Burgesses (1777, 1780, 1785)
  • United States Senator
    United States Senate

    The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
     from Virginia
    Virginia

    The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
     (March 4, 1789 - October 8, 1792)
  • President pro tempore
    President pro tempore

    A President pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer....
     during the Second Congress (April 18 - October 8, 1792)


Marriages and children

Richard married first on December 5, 1757, Anne Aylett (1738-1768), daughter of William Aylett and Elizabeth Eskridge (1719), who married secondly, Dr. James Steptoe, Col. (1709-1757). Anne died December 12, 1768 at Chantille, Westmoreland Co., Virginia. The couple had four surviving children:
  1. Thomas Lee (1758-1805).
  2. Col. Ludwell Lee, Esq. (1760-1836), who married Flora Lee (1771-1795), daughter of Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., Esq. (1727-1775) and Elizabeth Steptoe (1743-1789), who married secondly, Philip Richard Fendall I (1734-1805).
  3. Mary Lee (1764-1795), who married Joshua Logan Younger (1752-1834).
  4. Hannah Lee (1765-1801), who married Hon. Corbin Washington (1764-1799), son of Col. John Augustine Washington (1736-1787) and Hannah Bushrod (1738-1801).
  5. Marybelle Lee (1768), who died in infancy.


Richard re-married in June or July of 1769 to Anne (Gaskins) Pinckard. The couple had five surviving children:
  1. Anne Lee (1770-1804), who married Hon. Charles Lee
    Charles Lee (Attorney General)

    Charles Lee was an United States lawyer from Virginia. He served as United States Attorney General from 1795 until 1801.Charles was born to Henry_Lee_II and Lucy Lee on his father's plantation of Leesylvania in Prince William County, Virginia....
     (1758-1815), U.S. Attorney General under John Adams
    John Adams

    John Adams was an Politics of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , after being the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States for two terms....
    . Charles was the son of Maj. Gen. Henry Lee II
    Henry Lee II

    Henry Lee II of ?Leesylvania?, Prince William Co., Virginia. Henry II, was the third son of Capt. Henry Lee I of ?Lee Hall?, Westmoreland County, and his wife, Mary Bland , whose mother was a great-aunt of President Thomas Jefferson and descended once from King John of England, twice from King Edward I of England, once from King John of...
     (1730-1787) and Lucy Grymes (1734-1792).
  2. Henrietta "Harriotte" Lee (1773-1803), who married Hon. George Richard Lee Turberville (ca. 1770), son of Hon. George Richard Turberville, Jr. (1742-1792) and Martha Corbin (1742).
  3. Sarah Caldwell "Sally" Lee (1775-1837), who married Edmund Jennings Lee I (1772-1843), son of Maj. Gen. Henry Lee II
    Henry Lee II

    Henry Lee II of ?Leesylvania?, Prince William Co., Virginia. Henry II, was the third son of Capt. Henry Lee I of ?Lee Hall?, Westmoreland County, and his wife, Mary Bland , whose mother was a great-aunt of President Thomas Jefferson and descended once from King John of England, twice from King Edward I of England, once from King John of...
     (1730-1787) and Lucy Grymes (1734-1792).
  4. Cassius Lee (1779-1850).
  5. Francis Lightfoot Lee II (1782-1850), who married Jane Fitzgerald (d. 1816), daughter of Col. John Fitzgerald and Jane Digges. (grandparents of Francis Preston Blair Lee)
  6. ? Lee (1784), who died in infancy.
  7. ? Lee (1786), who died in infancy.


Francis Lightfoot Lee II

Richard's youngest son was named for his brother Francis Lightfoot Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee

Francis Lightfoot Lee , was a member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. He was active in protesting issues such as the Stamp Act which moved the Colony in the direction of seeking Independence from British control....
, another signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The younger Francis married Jane Fitzgerald on 9 Feb 1810. In 1811 he purchased the estate Sully in Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County, Virginia

Fairfax County is a County in Northern Virginia Virginia, in the United States. , the estimated population of the county is 1,077,000, making it by far the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
 from his second cousin Richard Bland Lee. Jane died on 25 Jul 1816, shortly after the birth on their fifth child.

Children
  1. Jane Elizabeth Lee (1 Jan 1811-25 Jun 1837); married Henry T. Harrison
  2. Samuel Philips Lee (13 Feb 1812-5 Jun 1897); Rear Admiral; married Elizabeth Blair
    Elizabeth Blair Lee

    Elizabeth Blair Lee was an United States woman who lived through the American Civil War, and wrote hundreds of letters describing the events of the times to her husband, Samuel Philips Lee....
    , daughter of Francis Preston Blair
    Francis Preston Blair

    Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was an United States journalist and politician....
  3. John Fitzgerald Lee (5 May 1813-17 Jun 1840)
  4. Arthur Lee (18 Feb 1815-3 Aug 1841)
  5. Frances Ann Lee (29 Jun 1816-5 Dec 1889); married Robinson Goldsborough


Ancestry

Richard was the son of Col. Thomas Lee
Thomas Lee (Virginia colonist)

Thomas Lee was a leading political figure of colonial Virginia. He was a member of the Lee family, a political dynasty which included many figures from the pre-Revolutionary War era until the late 20th century....
, Hon. (1690-1750) of "Stratford Hall
Stratford Hall Plantation

Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States, was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, and was the birthplace of Robert E....
", Westmoreland Co., Virginia. Thomas married Hannah Harrison Ludwell (1701-1750).

Hannah was the daughter of Col. Philip Ludwell II (1672-1726) of "Greenspring", and Hannah Harrison (1679-1731).

Thomas was the son of Col. Richard Lee II
Richard Lee II

Col. Richard Henry Lee II, Esq. was a Colonel, planter, member of the Upper House and the King's Council.Richard Henry II, was termed "Richard the Scholar"....
, Esq., “the scholar” (1647-1715) and Laetitia Corbin (ca. 1657-1706).

Laetitia was the daughter of Richard’s neighbor and, Councillor, Hon. Henry Corbin, Sr. (1629-1676) and Alice (Eltonhead) Burnham (ca. 1627-1684).

Richard II, was the son of Col. Richard Lee I
Richard Lee I

Col. Richard Lee I, Esq., ?the Immigrant? , was a planter, trader, Attorney General of the Colony of Virginia, colonial Secretary of State, and member of the King's Council....
, Esq., "the immigrant" (1618-1664) and Anne Constable (ca. 1621-1666).

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Constable and a ward of Sir John Thoroughgood.

Legacy


Lee County, Georgia
Lee County, Georgia

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia . As of 2000, the population was 24,757. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 33,050 ....
 is named in his honor. Richard Henry Lee Elementary School in Rossmoor, California
Rossmoor, California

Rossmoor is a planned census-designated place located in Orange County, California. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 10,298....
 and honor as is Richard Henry Lee School in Chicago, Illinois are also named in his honor.

Representations in fiction

Richard Henry Lee is a key character in the musical 1776
1776 (musical)

1776 is a Tony Award winning musical theatre with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. It is based on the events leading to the writing and signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1776....
. He was portrayed by Ron Holgate
Ron Holgate

Ronald Holgate is an United States actor and opera singer, perhaps best known as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway theatre production of 1776 ....
 in both the Broadway cast and in the 1972 film. The character performs a song called "The Lees of Old Virginia", in which he explains how he knows he will be able to convince the Virginia House of Burgesses to allow him to propose independence.

External links