Richard Henry Lee: VA Signer of the Declaration

Richard Henry Lee was born on January 20, 1732, at Stratford Hall, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Thomas and Hannah (Ludlow) Lee. He had 10 siblings, including his younger brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee, who also signed the Declaration of Independence. His family ancestry can be traced to England, where his great-grandfather, Richard Lee, left for America in 1639 to serve as secretary to the Royal Governor of Virginia.

            As a young boy, Richard Henry, like his siblings, was tutored by Scottish ministers. He would leave in 1748 for England to attend Wakefield Academy in Yorkshire for further schooling and would never see his parents again. His parents passed away in 1750 when he was eighteen years old, and he inherited fifty slaves and land in Prince William County, Virginia. He would lease this land to tenant farmers and stay at Stratford Hall upon his return from England.

He returned from England in 1753 and continued his studies utilizing the library at Stratford Hall for the next four years. In 1754, he, along with his siblings, brought suit against his older brother, Colonel Phil, for the slow pace of their parents’ estate division. As with his other siblings, the rift with Colonel Phil would not be settled when the Colonel died in 1775.[1]  Ironically, when he notified his brothers, William and Arthur, of Colonel Phil’s death, he did so at the end of a lengthy letter in which he had railed against England.

            In 1755, he raised a military company to support General Braddock in the French and Indian War. General Braddock refused the support of this militia before being killed in the summer of 1755, after Lee had marched to Alexandria to meet the General. This was a lucky break for Lee, and two years later, he would be appointed a justice for Westmoreland County.

            On December 3, 1757, Richard Henry Lee married Ann Aylett. Just after their marriage, he leases land from his brother, Colonel Phil, about three miles from Stratford Hall, and builds their home. It was called Chantilly on the Potomac and was a ten-room, three-story building which was finished in the early 1760s. They would have six children, beginning with Elizabeth Virginia, who was born in 1755 or 56 but died in infancy.[2]  The next child, Thomas, was born in 1758 and passed away in 1805. A second son, Ludwell, was born in 1760 and passed away in 1836. He marries Flora Lee and becomes a Colonel in the military. Another daughter, Mary, was born in 1764 and died unmarried in 1795. Hanna was born in 1765 and died in 1795. She would marry Corbin Washington. Their final child, Marybelle Lee, was born in 1768 and died in infancy. Ann passed away in December 1768.

            The year after his marriage, Richard Henry was elected to the House of Burgesses and began his long fight to remove Speaker John Robinson. It was during his time as a representative that a deep feud developed between him and his cousin, Carter Braxton, over Lee’s treatment of the speaker. It would cause a lifelong rift between them, and they would sabotage each other’s political careers for the rest of their lives. Then, in 1759, Lee made a speech opposing the slave trade. During this speech, he proposes a heavy duty on the importation of slaves. The proposed tax was so heavy that its goal was to stop the slave trade in Virginia. In the speech, he proposed to “Lay so heavy a tax upon the importation of slaves as effectually to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the Colony.”[3]

            Unaware of the Stamp Act’s implications, he had applied to be a tax collector in 1764 because his family was growing and he needed a larger income. By 1765, he understood all the implications of this act and spoke out against it, but in 1766, the House of Burgesses censured him for his interest in serving as a tax collector. He successfully defended himself against the censure and was forgiven by the House.

            1766 proved to be a busy and productive year for Lee. Not only did he successfully defend himself against a censure by the House, but he also wrote the Westmoreland Resolves. The resolves were considered, by many, to be a seditious attack on the King. Its tone was much sharper than the Declaration’s. He then goes after Speaker Robinson once again and exposes the Treasury scandal. This causes him to have many enemies, who accuse him of going against his class.

            Unfortunately, two years later, his wife, Anne, passes away from pleurisy, and then he loses four fingers on his left hand. He had been out hunting on the Potomac River when a gun misfired. His hand was cauterized at home to stop the bleeding, and he would wear a black scarf around the hand for the rest of his life. Sometimes he would use a black silk glove to cover it, as well, but he would also actively use his disfigured hand when he made speeches.

            In 1769, Lee married Anne Gaskins Pinckard, and they had seven children together. Their first child, Anne, was born in 1770 and died in 1804. She married Charles Lee and has five children. Another daughter, Henrietta, was born on December 10, 1773, and would live until 1803. She marries Richard Lee Tuberville and has one child. Sarah Caldwell was born on December 27, 1775, and lived until May 8, 1837. She marries Edmund Jennings Lee and has eight children. Cassius was born in 1779 and died in 1850. Then Francis Lightfoot Lee, named after Lee’s younger brother, was born on January 18, 1782. He married Jane Fitzgerald and had five children before passing on April 13, 1850. Two other unnamed children were born in 1784 and 1786, respectively, and both died in infancy.

            By 1774, Lee was a member of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence and was at Raleigh Tavern in August of that year for the first meeting of the Virginia Convention. He was elected a delegate to the First Continental Congress that year and arrived in September of 1774. One of the first people he met was John Adams, and they formed a strong team in support of independence. They would initially meet around September 3 at a breakfast held at his sister Alice’s Philadelphia home, where the Lee brothers were staying. By the time Adams saw Lee again that evening, Lee was quite drunk from celebrating being in Philadelphia. He even missed the opening day of Congress, held at Carpenter’s Hall on September 5^th.

            After the Congress was seated, Lee prepared an address to the King, but the Congress rejected it as being rude and impertinent. By this time, he had formed a strong alliance with John and Samuel Adams. The Congress dissolved itself after its session was complete, and Lee returned to Virginia.

            Colonel Phil, the oldest brother, died in 1775, and Lee was named executor of his will and guardian of his brother’s family. He was then re-elected to the Second Continental Congress, and on June 7, 1776, introduced his resolution for independence. He does this after the Virginia convention votes in the affirmative to declare independence from Great Britain. The resolution stated:

“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 connections between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved…”

            After introducing this resolution, etiquette would have dictated that he write the Declaration of Independence. But because of political considerations and how he was viewed in Virginia as a traitor to his class, as well as to prevent Harrison and Braxton from being on the committee, it was agreed that Thomas Jefferson would take Lee’s place. This decision would also placate the New England Representatives, who thought Harrison and Braxton were too conservative to be on the committee. Both gentlemen had also demanded that Lee not be on the committee, or they would walk away from the process. Lee would later comment to Jefferson on the Declaration that “the Thing is in its nature so good, that no Cookery can spoil the Dish for the palates of Freeman.”[4]

            Lee was not in Congress when the vote for the Declaration was taken, and he was not there on August 2 when the delegates signed the engrossed document. He signed the Declaration on September 4, 1776, upon his return to Congress. Family illness is the excuse Lee gives for his absence, but there is some evidence that he was upset, as he was not on the Declaration committee. During this time away, he helped draft the new Virginia Constitution, as his brother, Tom Lee, had asked him to return and assist the convention.

            While back in Virginia, he had to deal with rumors about how he collected rent from his tenants. He had initially let them pay him with produce, and when it became necessary to collect Continental dollars, he refused and continued to accept payment in other ways. When this was discovered, the enemies he had made in Virginia would use it to their advantage. This led to his defeat in a re-election bid to the Continental Congress, which caused his brother Francis to resign his seat. By June of 1777, he had returned to Williamsburg, explained the situation, and was acquitted of all charges and even given thanks “for the ‘faithful service’ he rendered to Virginia.”[5]  In August of 1777, Francis had withdrawn his resignation, and both brothers returned to the Continental Congress.

            Once back in Congress, Lee served on the Articles of Confederation committee and signed them on November 15, 1777. He was one of 15 Declaration signers to do so. But he begins to lose his popularity that year when he sides with his brothers William Lee and Arthur after the Silas Deane affair, and rumors of their behavior begin to drift back to America, courtesy of Deane. Arthur Lee accuses Deane of improper conduct in securing munitions in France. Lee lost his election in the House of Burgesses, and his brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee, would resign his position. Both would eventually return to Congress after an investigation found him not guilty of the salacious charges that had been lodged. He then resigned from Congress in 1779, but returned in 1784, and was elected President. During this term in office, he would work to limit the national government’s powers.

            While out of Congress in 1781, he would fight with the Virginia militia, as a Colonel in the Westmoreland militia, and have his horse shot out from underneath him, trying to protect the Lee property, which was in danger of being looted by the British. As he was moving his family out of Chantilly, he observed British ships approaching the wharf and called up the militia, who fired on the British, causing them to retreat. His foot was injured during this confrontation when the horse fell on him.

            In his later years, he would oppose the Constitution and advocate for a Bill of Rights. From 1789 until 1792, he served as Virginia’s first senator under the new Constitution. During this time, he would advocate for adopting the Bill of Rights. He would be President pro tempore of the Senate and was never pleased with the Senate’s activities. In the fall of 1791, he was in a carriage accident, and eventually his secretary had to write his correspondence because of problems with his injured hand. He retired from public service in 1792 due to health reasons; specifically, he suffered from gout.

            On June 19, 1794, he passed away at Chantilly. He is buried in Burnt House Field, where his parents, wives, and other ancestors are buried. On his tomb are the words “We cannot do without you.”  This was said by his brother, Thomas Ludwell Lee, when he asked Lee to return to Virginia in 1776 to help draft the state constitution. He was severely in debt, and his estate was auctioned off to cover those debts. Chantilly no longer exists; it was demolished shortly after he passed away, but a historical marker marks the spot where it once stood. His grandson Richard Henry tried to put together a book about his grandfather, consisting of letters and recollections from others, to restore Lee’s character and prevent him from being lost in the pages of history. No decent biography of Richard Henry Lee has ever been produced.[6]

Tidbits

He was described as being tall with reddish hair but was frail and had stomach problems.

At the time of his death, he had 63 slaves, and by all accounts, the relationship between master and slave was good. He kept meticulous records; in one instance, he paid a slave for some partridges he had trapped.

[1] Nagel, Paul C. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 67

[2] Several different sources list this child as being born before their marriage, and other sources do not list her at all.

[3] http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers‑by‑state/

[4] Kiernan, Denise, and Joseph D’Agnese. Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of The Men Who Signed The Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, c2009)

[5] Nagel, Paul C. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family. (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007) 103

[6] Nagel, Paul C. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 141