Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee (born January 20, 1732 at Stratford Hall Plantation , Colony of Virginia , † June 19, 1794 in Chantilly , Virginia ) was the sixth President of the Continental Congress and, as a signatory to the United States Constitution, is one of the founding fathers of the United States . As a representative of Virginia, he brought the Lee Resolution named after him into Congress in June 1776 , which the latter adopted on July 2, 1776 and made public two days later in the United States' Declaration of Independence .

Life

Richard Lee was a member of the Lee family well known in Virginia. His brothers Arthur (1740–1792) and Francis played important roles during the American Revolution. Another brother named William (1739–1795) served in the diplomatic service of the American movement during the American Revolution. A distant relative was the future Southern General Robert Edward Lee . Richard Lee was educated at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School Academy at Wakefield in Yorkshire , England . In 1752 he returned to Virginia, where he took up a legal profession. In 1757 he was appointed Justice of the Peace of Westmoreland County . In 1761 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses , where he remained until 1788. An early independence advocate, he became one of the first to set up committees of correspondence between the many independence-interested Americans in the various colonies.

In August 1774, Lee was elected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia . In 1775 he became a colonel in the Westmoreland County Militia. In the Lee Resolution , Lee promoted the movement in the Continental Congress for the declaration of independence . Due to Lee's absence from Congress due to his wife's illness, Thomas Jefferson was selected to write the statement.

Lee was against the creation of a United States Constitution because he did not want a central government. Because of his urging, the 10th Amendment to the Constitution was written, attributing all powers not mentioned to the states or the people. Lee was elected one of its first two senators by the Virginia's Legislative Assembly but was forced to abdicate in 1792 due to poor health.

He died in his home and is buried in Burnt House Field Cemetery in Mount Pleasant, near Hague, in Westmoreland County.

According to him, Lee County , Georgia, and Lee County named in Illinois.

Biographical data

• Parents:
  • Thomas Lee (* 1690, † November 1750)
  • Hannah Harrison Ludwell (* 1701, † January 25, 1750)
• Siblings:
  • Philip Ludwell Lee (* 1726, † 1775)
  • Hannah Lee (* 1728, † 1782)
  • Thomas Ludwell Lee (* 1730, † 1778)
  • Francis Lightfoot Lee (* 1734, † 1797)
  • Alice Lee (* 1736, † 1818)
  • William Lee (* 1739, † 1795)
  • Arthur Lee (* 1740, † 1792)
• Married to Ann Aylett (* 1738, † December 12, 1768) on December 3, 1757
• Children with Ann:
  • Thomas Lee (born October 20, 1758, † October 7 (?) 1805)
  • Ludwell Lee (born October 13, 1760, † March 23, 1836)
  • Mary Lee (born July 28, 1764, † 1795)
  • Hannah Lee (* 1766 (?), † 1801 (?))
• Married to Anne Gaskins Pinckard in July 1768
• Children with Anne:
  • Anne Lee (born December 1, 1770, † September 9, 1804)
  • Henrietta Lee (* December 10, 1773, † 1804 (?))
  • Sarah Lee (born December 27, 1775, † May 8, 1837)
  • Cassius Lee (born August 18, 1779, † July 8, 1798)
  • Francis Lightfoot Lee (born June 18, 1782, † April 13, 1850)

Political offices

• Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland County, Virginia (1757)
• House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia (1758–1775)
• Member of the Continental Congress (1774–1779, 1784–1785, 1787)
• Signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
• House of Burgesses of the State of Virginia (1777, 1780, 1785)
• Colonel of the Westmoreland, Virginia Militia
• United States Senator for Virginia (March 4, 1789 - October 8, 1792)
• President pro tempore during the second continental congress

Web links

• Richard Henry Lee in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Kurzbiografie (English)