Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee made the case for independence in Congress with the June 1776 Lee Resolution, then served under the Articles of Confederation and in the first Senate.
Born January 20, 1732 / Died June 19, 1794
On January 20, 1732, at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee was born into the politically connected Lee family. He studied in England at Wakefield Academy, returned to Virginia, and entered the House of Burgesses with a reputation for polished oratory and forceful opposition to imperial measures. By the time of the Stamp Act crisis, he was already among Virginia's leading advocates of colonial rights.
Lee served in the Continental Congress and on June 7, 1776, introduced the resolution declaring that the colonies were "free and independent States." That Lee Resolution opened the formal congressional path to the Declaration of Independence adopted the next month. He later worked under the Articles of Confederation, served as president of Congress in 1784-1785, and entered the first United States Senate after ratification.
Lee's resolution gave Congress the procedural bridge from protest to independence, and his later career helped shape the confederation and federal transitions that followed. His insistence on amendments during the ratification struggle also fed into the political pressure that produced the Bill of Rights in 1791.
Key Contributions
- Although he served in the Virginia Gen.eral Assembly for three decades, and also held local military and political offices, Lee may today be best known for Leesylvania plantation, having been overshadowed by his cousin Richard Henry Lee and his sons, especially his lawyer sons Charles, Edmund Jennings Lee I and Richard Bland Lee I and his somewhat scandal-plagued firstborn son Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III.
- On July 4, 1776, Richard Henry Lee signed the Declaration of Independence as part of the political leadership tied to Virginia.
- Richard Henry Lee's public record is closely tied to Declaration of Independence adopted, a named event that defined the period in which Richard Henry Lee served.
Related Events
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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