Brian Nelson

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When most people think of the Declaration of Independence, they think of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock’s large signature. Another man exists, however, without whom American dream of Independence would never have been realized. His name was Richard Henry Lee, a Virginian gentleman of the noblest stock.

Lee was born in Westmoreland county in the Colony of Virginia on January 20 1732. According to the fashion of rich Virginians, Lee’s parents sent him to England to be educated at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, in Yorkshire.

At the time of Lee’s return to Virginia in 1752, England was preparing for a war with France, which would decide the balance of power in the New World. Lee took the initiative to form a Militia troop made up of men from his neighborhood. When, in 1756, the French and Indian war broke out, Lee’s troop marched to Alexandria to join the forces of General Edward Braddock. Braddock rebuked the Militiamen and sent them home.

In 1757, Lee was appointed the Justice of the Peace for Westmoreland County. In 1758 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he helped create the Committees of Correspondence for the discussion of independence. He is also believed to have written the Westmoreland Resolution of 1766.

When, in 1774, the Revolutionary War broke out, Lee was chosen as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On June 7, 1776, Lee proposed that the 13 colonies declare independence
from Great Britain. Shortly thereafter Lee left to propose to the Virginia House of Burgesses that Virginia join the other 13 colonies. Lee was still traveling to Philadelphia when the vote to adopt the Declaration of Independence took place, so fellow representative from Virginia Thomas Jefferson cast the only Virginian vote. Lee, however, was present when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

In 1794, after a long and prosperous career, Richard Henry Lee retired to his home in Chantille, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. On June 19, 1794, at the ripe old age of 63, Lee died of an unknown illness.

The Lee family was very prominent in Virginia in the 18th and 19th century. Famous relatives and descendants of Richard Henry Lee include his nephew, “Light Horse Harry” Lee, who earned fame as a military commander and later became Governor of Virginia. Light Horse Harry’s son, Robert E. Lee, went on to be the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the bulk of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War.

Richard Henry Lee, a strong proponent of a small Federal Government, believed that it is crucial that the majority of the American People should own and be proficient with firearms, in the event that the government went out of control. A few of his most famous quotes are, “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”, and “The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well being of society”.

Sources: Wikipedia, Colonial Hall, Lives of the Signers(1848 book).

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Homeschooling reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.