University of Virginia Library

RICHARD HENRY LEE,

Who was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, January 20, 1732, was
descended from a family eminent in public life and of high social standing
in that colony. The grandfather whose name he bore, was Richard Lee,
a member of the King's council, and his father, Thomas Lee, was for a
number of years president of that council. His maternal grandfather,
who was a son of Governor Ludington, of North Carolina, was also a
member of that body of statesmen.

Richard Henry Lee was sent to England, and attended school at Wakefield,
in Yorkshire. At the age of nineteen, he returned to his native
colony, and having ample means and no desire to pursue a professional
life, he gave himself up to his love of books, for a number of years pursuing
with ardor the study of ethics and the philosophy of history.

In 1754, he was rudely awakened from his student's dreams by the
encroachments of Indians upon the border counties of Virginia, and the
appeal of the frontier settlers to be protected from their atrocities. In his
twenty-third year he was called on by the Westmoreland Volunteers to
place himself at their head and lead them to protect the living and avenge
the dead. Reporting with his troops to General Braddock, at Alexandria,
Virginia, that vain-glorious general, who was to pay with his life for his
ignorance, decided that "the British troops could quell a handful of
savages without the help of the provincials," and the young volunteers,
with their young leader, were sent home.

In 1757, Mr. Lee was appointed justice of the peace for Westmoreland
county, and in the same year was elected to serve that county as its representative
in the House of Burgesses.

The first few years of service in that body rendered by Richard Henry
Lee, who was yet to be styled "the Cicero of America," have left little
record of his action, save that he was too diffident to take the prominent
position his merits warranted. Before the contest between the colonists
and the royal government was begun, Mr. Lee's most prominent act in the
House of Burgesses was the discovering and bringing to light and
punishment of defalcations on the part of the treasurer of the colony.

The holder of this important trust was a Mr. Robinson, a leader of the
aristocratic party in the House, and a man so surrounded by powerful
family associations, that even those best convinced of his guilt, and upon
whom should have rested the duty of his punishment, shrank from the task

as being one impossible of fulfillment, and which would only bring odium
and defeat upon any one who attempted it.

Richard Henry Lee, regardless of such base motives for inaction, entered
upon this task, nor desisted from its prosecution until his object was
attained and the colony secured from heavy loss and pecuniary embarrassment.
When the evidence necessary had been secured and Lee rose, in
the presence of the man accused and of his collegues who were to be his
judges, the candor of Lee's countenance, which was stamped with sorrow
at the painful necessity of his words, and the persuasive eloquence
accompanied with scathing denunciations with which he spoke, absolutely
silenced those who expected by sophistry to turn aside the evidence, and
by sarcasm and intimidation to silence the truth.

When the British ministry entered upon the system of taxation of the
colonies without their consent, Lee was one of the first to see whither the
action would tend. Writing to a friend in London, May 31, 1764, he
said: "Possibly this step, though intended to oppress and keep us low,
in order to secure our dependence, may be subversive of this end. Poverty
and oppression, among those whose minds are filled with ideas of British
liberty, may introduce a virtuous industry with a train of generous and
manly sentiments, which, when in future they become supported by numbers,
may produce a fatal resentment of parental care converted into
tyrannical usurpation."

Mr. Lee, in 1764, was one of the committee who prepared the remonstrance
of Virginia presented to the king and parliament, and in 1765
he supported the famous resolutions of Patrick Henry. Both the remonstrance
and the resolutions are more fully spoken of elsewhere in the
volume. [See sketch of Wythe and of Harrison.]

Liberty-loving Virginia found a fit representative in Richard Henry
Lee in the dark years which followed. Under his lead men of all parties
and of all social grades united in opposition to the "Stamp Act," binding
themselves to each other, to God, and to their country to resist its action.
In Westmoreland county, a resolution was framed by Lee, and written in
his hand as follows:

"As the stamp act does absolutely direct the property of the people to
be taken from them without their consent, expressed by their representatives,
and as in many cases it deprives the British-American subject of his
right to be tried by jury, we do determine, at every hazard, and paying no
regard to death, to exert every faculty to prevent the execution of the
stamp act in every instance, within this colony."

The repeal of the "Stamp Act" did not for a moment blind Mr. Lee as
to the future troubles awaiting the colonies, and for his clear understanding
of the position and intention of Parliament at all steps of the struggle
that ensued, he was largely indebted to his brother, Dr. Arthur Lee, who
was then in London, and with whom he was in constant correspondence.

THE HOUDON STATUE OF WASHINGTON.

These remarkable sons of Virginia must have been brothers in thought and
mind, as well as of blood, so closely were their feelings allied. At one time
Dr. Lee wrote: "Let me remind you that no confidence is to be reposed
in the justice or mercy of Britain, and that American liberty must be
entirely of American fabric."

Through all the intermediate steps between the resistance to the "Stamp
Act" and the meeting of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, Richard
Henry Lee was conspicuous for his talent, his energy, his courage and his
patriotism. When the royal displeasure dissolved the House of Burgesses,
the representative men of Virginia met in private houses and continued
to formulate their defiance to oppression, and the sanction of the people was
the only authority they had, or desired to have.

August 1, 1774, the first Assembly of Virginia was convened at the
call of the people. By this Assembly Lee was deputed, with Washington
and Henry, to represent Virginia in the Congress of Colonies at Philadelphia.

This body met in that city, September 5, 1774, and when in its first
session a sense of the responsibility of the situation fell upon the representatives
so that "a silence, awful and protracted, prevailed," it was a voice
from Virginia that broke the spell. Patrick Henry spoke first, followed
by Lee. The sweetness of Lee's voice and the harmony of his language
soothed, subdued and yet strengthened the souls of his associates, while with
eloquence which none could rival or resist he showed that there was now
but one hope for their country and that was in the vigor of her resistance.

Serving now on many important committees, and largely engaging in
the spirited colonial correspondence which filled those years, Richard
Henry Lee continued to represent Westmoreland county in the Assembly,
and the Assembly in the Continental Congress until in the Congress of
1776, on the 7th of June, he offered the memorable resolution, from which
the Declaration of Independence was formulated, that "These united
colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."

This motion Mr. Lee introduced in words of ringing eloquence. In
concluding, he said: "Why, then, sir, do we longer delay? Why still
deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American republic. Let
us arise not to devastate and to conquer, but to re-establish the reign of
peace and of law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. * * * If
we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American
legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of Theseus,
Lycurgus, and Romulus, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all those
whose memory has been, and will be, dear to virtuous men and good
citizens."

Three days later, while Lee's motion was still under discussion, he
received news of the serious illness of his wife, and hastened to her side,
leaving others to carry out the work he had so well begun.

The absence of Mr. Lee from Congress continued until August, 1776,

when he again took his seat, appended his signature to the Declaration,
and resumed his arduous committee work. In this work he also continued
through the session of 1777, taking a prominent part in preparing a plan
of treaties with foreign nations.

During this time he was the mark of British malignity; his person
constantly in danger if he returned to his home; that home itself broken in
upon by British troops ostensibly seeking to effect his capture, and his
sons, then at school at St. Bedes, subjected to the insolence of the royalists, one
of whom assured these boys that he hoped to live to see their father's head
on Tower Hill. Yet the "ingratitude of republics," even at such a time,
fell upon Lee, many friends of the new government loudly proclaiming
him a "tory."

His first act on returning home was to demand of the Assembly an
investigation of his conduct as its representative, and that body not only
exonerated him from blame, but through the venerable George Wythe
passed him a vote of thanks for his able services, freely rendered.

In 1778-79, Mr. Lee was again a representative in Congress, although
his failing health forced him often to be absent from its sessions.

During the latter year the British troops were turning their attention
more largely to the Southern States, and were harassing the coast of
Virginia with predatory incursions, and Mr. Lee, as lieutenant of the
county, was appointed to the command of the Westmoreland militia. In
the field his energy, activity and good judgment were as conspicuous as in
the councils of the nation, and the protection he afforded Westmoreland
county is conveyed in the complaint of the commander of the British
troops in that vicinity: "We cannot set foot in Westmoreland without
having the militia immediately upon us."

November 1, 1784, Mr. Lee again resumed his seat in Congress, and on
the 30th of November was unanimously chosen to fill the presidential
chair, then the highest office in the nation. When his term of service
expired, he sought the repose of private life, which he enjoyed until, on
the adoption of the Federal Constitution, he consented to serve his
beloved Virginia once more in a public capacity, and took his seat as her
first Senator under the new Constitution. This important position he
filled until 1792, departing then to his home honored with a vote of
thanks for his services, passed unanimously by the Senate and House of
Delegates of Virginia, October 22, 1792.

In his home life Richard Henry Lee abounded in those courtesies and
graces which mark the gentleman. His hospitable mansion was open to
all; the poor and the afflicted frequented it for help and consolation; the
young for instruction, and all ages and classes for happiness. His large
family of children, the offspring of two marriages, were happy in his love
and grew to noble womanhood and manhood under his instructions.

He died June 19, 1794, in his 64th year, at Chantilly, Westmoreland
county, Virginia.

[The life of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United
States, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in
behalf of Virginia, will be found on another page.]