Tall and aristocratic in bearing, Richard Henry Lee was an impassioned supporter of American independence in Virginia and later a prominent antagonist of the federal constitution. Born into one of the most prominent families in the colony on January 20, 1732, Lee was bred to a political life. The son of Thomas Lee, one-time president of the governing Council of Virginia and a founder of the Ohio Company, and Hannah Ludwell of "Stratford Hall," Westmorland County, Lee benefited from a superior education, attending the Wakefield Academy in England for seven years before returning in 1751 to enter the family calling, public service. Four of his brothers were active in Revolutionary and post-revolutionary politics: Francis Lightfoot Lee joined Richard as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Ludwell Lee helped write Virginia's resolve for independence and was later chosen to the state supreme court, and Arthur and William Lee became noted diplomats.

Appointed justice of the peace for Westmoreland County in 1757, Lee was first elected to the House of Burgesses in the next year, aged 25. From the first, he pitted himself in the radical wing of Virginia politics. His first speech as a legislator was a proposal to ban the importation of slaves into Virginia, and he earned a reputation as a zealous -- occasionally overly zealous -- political combatant for the part he played in a dispute with the Speaker, John Robinson, over a rivalry between the Ohio Land Company and Robinson's Loyal Land Company. However it was only with the political disputes between the colonies and England after the end of the Seven Years War that Lee's characteristically incendiary style began to emerge.

Although Lee had initially applied to become a collector under the Stamp Act of 1765, he very soon turned to the opposition, becoming a leader of the most vocal and extreme wing. With his brothers Thomas and Francis Lightfoot, Lee gathered 115 signatures to the "Westmoreland Resolves," a petition that threatened "danger and disgrace" to anyone who paid the tax. An act of overt sedition, and one of the earliest to threaten physical violence, the Resolves were a key turning point in the pre-revolutionary struggle.

After recovering from a hunting accident that cost him several fingers on one hand in 1768, Lee returned to a position of prominence in the nascent independence movement, helping to galvanize support for the Non-importation agreements. From England, his brother Arthur kept him informed of English news and political gossip and of the shifting currents toward the colonial crisis. But the specifics of Lee's part in the resistance in Virginia were ultimately less important than his efforts to strengthen political unity between the colonies and to foster a systematic intercolonial exchange of information. In the process, he forged a close working relationship with the Massachusetts firebrand Samuel Adams, and the two remained close throughout the ensuing decades of political strife.

From his seat in the Continental Congress, Lee emerged as an orator of unusual skill and power, urging the colonies to stay the oppositional course and, in July 1775, becoming one of the first to recommend forming independent state governments. Perhaps his signal claim to public renown came on May 17, 1776, when he submitted a resolution to Congress stating that the colonies should declare "That these united Colonies are, and ought to be, fee and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance from the British crown, and than all political connection between America and State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Before the debate over the declaration of independence took place, however, Lee had returned to Virginia to assist his home state establish its new government.

In later years, Lee supported the Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance, believing (as a child of the Ohio Company) that revenue from western lands would be beneficial to the new state, and he unsuccessfully submitted an amendment to allow federal support for religion. Increasingly poor health prevented him from taking up his position as delegate to either the federal constitutional convention of 1787 or the state ratification convention in 1788, however Lee contributed to the debate as author of the seminal Anti-federalist tract Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican (1787-1788). Supportive of much of the federal apparatus (centralization of foreign affairs, commerce, money, and post), he nevertheless rejected the constitution for what he saw as anti-democratic tendencies in a powerful executive, the lack of a bill of rights, and the too limited number of seats in the House of Representatives.

Following the ratification, however, Lee grudgingly came around to support the federal government and was appointed as one of the state's first two Senators in 1789, both Anti-federalists. Once again he took up the cause of an amendment to allow public support for religion, but his term in office was interrupted repeatedly by ill health and by the effects of a carriage accident. Finally, half way through his term on October 8, 1792, he was forced to resign and retire from public life.

Lee was twice married, first to Anne Aylett in 1757, with whom he had four children, and second, in 1768, to Anne Gaskins Pinckard, with whom he had five children. After leaving the Senate, Lee returned to his estate, "Chantilly," where he died on June 19, 1794.

A small, but highly valuable collection, the papers of Richard Henry Lee document the political life and activities of one of the most ardent revolutionaries in Virginia. The 0.5 linear feet of letters (193 items), most addressed to Lee, are an important resource for study of pre-Revolutionary political agitation in Virginia, the increasing connections forged between the colonies, and the political course of the war. To a lesser degree the collection documents Lee's late-life anti-federalism. Among the major correspondents are Lee's brothers Arthur and William, and such leaders in the revolutionary cause as George Washington, Samuel Adams, Charles Lee, John Adams, and Thomas Paine.

After Lexington and Concord, the letters from Charles Lee sometimes seem overwrought with emotion and excitement, as when he wrote: by the eternal God if you do not declare immediately for positive independence We are all ruin'd -- there is a poorness of spirit and languor in the late proceedings of the Congress that I confess frightens me so much, that at times I regret having embark'd my all, my fortune, life and reputation..." (May 10, 1776).

Several of the 25 letters written by George Washington provide exceptionally important information on the prosecution of the war, the testy relationship between Washington and a demanding Congress, and other topics. In a letter written July 10, 1775, Washington provides his assessment of the siege of Boston; his letter of Dec. 26, 1775, discusses Lord Dunmore's "diabolical" proclamation to arm slaves; the letter of June 12, 1784, requests quiet assistance for the impoverished Thomas Paine.

Lee's other major correspondents include the Boston radical Samuel Adams (15 letters), Charles Lee (6 letters), and Gen. Adam Stephen (5 letters), but the selection includes important letters from a number of eminent men associated with the revolutionary struggle, including John Adams, Baron de Kalb, Horatio Gates, Conte de Grasse, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, Henry Laurens, Thomas Paine, Kasimerz Pulaski, Benjamin Rush, George Weedon, and George Wythe.

Provenance

Gift of Richard Henry Lee, Jr., June 12, 1825.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Richard Henry Lee Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc, 2003.

Other finding aids

Calendar of the Correspondence Relating to the American Revolution of Brigadier-General George Weedon, Hon. Richard Henry Lee, Hon. Arthur Lee, and Major-General Nathanael Greene, in the Library of the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1900) Call no.: 973.3 Am4.

Separated material

The Lee Papers originally included a manuscript penultimate draft of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence written on about July 1, 1776. The draft is housed separately.

Related material

The Lee Papers are one of several important collections at the APS for documenting the American Revolution, including the papers of Benjamin Franklin (B F85), Nathanael Greene (B G83), and George Weedon (B W41). The Library also has eight reels of microfilm of the Lee Family Papers at the University of Virginia (Film 1240).

The correspondence of Richard Henry Lee and his family is widely scattered, with individual letters and small groups located at a large number of repositories. The major collections are:

• Richard Henry Lee Papers, 1742-1795. Alderman Library, University of Virginia (8 microfilm reels).
• Lee Family Papers, 1722-1892. Huntington Library (100 items)
• Richard Henry Lee Papers, 1785-1796. Alderman Library, University of Virginia (50 items). Chiefly concerning the settlement of Lee's estate.
• Richard Henry Lee Papers and Lee Family Papers. Virginia Historical Society.
• Richard Henry Lee Papers and Lee Family Papers. Library of Congress.

Bibliography

Most of the correspondence in the collection is reproduced in: Lee, Richard Henry, Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee (Philadelphia: Carey and Lee, 1825) Call no.: B L51l. Ballagh, James Curtis, ed., The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, 2 vols. (New York: MacMillan, 1911-1914) Call no.: B L51b.

Early American History Note

This collection of Richard Henry Lee correspondence is most notable for its rich content relating to the movement for Independence, military matters during the war, and the politics of ratification and the early republic. Because much of the correspondence is incoming, the letters offer insight into a wide range of other topics – and snapshots of events happening in areas beyond Lee’s home state of Virginia. Frequent correspondents during the revolutionary era include John Dickinson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Rush, and George Washington, among others. Almost all of these letters contain discussions of politics that offer significant insight into the letter writer’s political thought and rich details on events happening throughout British America. Among Rush’s correspondence is a series of letters written following the Battle of Princeton that relate the treatment Rush administered to a Hugh Mercer, who later died of his wounds.

Genre(s)

• Political Correspondence

Geographic Name(s)

• Great Britain--Politics and government--18th century
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Causes
• United States--Politics and government--1783-1789
• United States--Politics and government--To 1775
• Virginia--Politics and government--Revolution, 1775-1783

Personal Name(s)

• Adams, John, 1735-1826
• Adams, Samuel, 1722-1803
• Barré, Isaac, 1726-1802
• Carmichael, William, d. 1795
• Chase, Samuel, 1741-1811
• Conway, Thomas, 1733-ca.1800
• De Kalb, Johann, 1721-1780
• Dickinson, John, 1732-1808
• Gates, Horatio, 1728-1806
• Grasse, Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse, comte de, 1722-1788
• Henry, Patrick, 1726-1799
• Holker, John, 1719-1786
• Jay, John, 1745- 1829
• Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
• Jennings, Edmund
• Johnson, Thomas, 1732-1819
• Jones, William
• Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves, marquis de, 1757-1834
• Laurens, Henry, 1724-1792
• Lee, Arthur, 1740-1792
• Lee, John
• Lee, Richard Henry, 1732-1794
• Lee, William, 1739-1795
• Lovell, James, 1737-1814
• Martin, John
• McKean, Thomas, 1734-1817
• Mifflin, Thomas, 1744-1800
• Monroe, James, 1758-1831
• Morris, Gouverneur, 1752-1816
• Page, John, 1744-1808
• Page, Mann
• Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809
• Pendleton, Edmund, 1721-1803
• Pulaski, Kazimierz, 1747-1779
• Reed, Joseph, 1741-1785
• Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813
• Schuyler, Philip John, 1733-1804
• Shippen, William, 1736?-1808
• Stephen, Adam
• Sullivan, James, 1744-1808
• Washington, George, 1732-1799
• Weedon, George,1734-1793.
• Whipple, William, 1730-1785
• Wythe, George, 1726-1806

Subject(s)

• American Revolution
• Early National Politics
• Military History
• Non-importation agreements, 1768-1769
• Stamp Act, 1765