Mark Cole
Ah, Virginia.
What would America be without the men of Virginia? What would America be without Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe – not to mention George Washington?
Most likely America as we know it would not even exist were it not for Virginia and the men of Virginia. And just as America is inconceivable without Virginia, Virginia is inconceivable without the Lee family.
Five of the six sons of Thomas and Hanna Lee played major roles in the claiming of American independence. Arthur and William Lee labored in Europe during the Revolution on behalf of the American cause (Arthur being essentially a spy in England, passing sensitive intelligence on to his brothers in America). Thomas Ludwell Lee helped write Virginia’s resolutions for independence and was one of the first judges elected to Virginia’s supreme court. Francis Lightfoot Lee was elected to the Continental Congress and would eventually, among other things, sign the Declaration. Later, his nephew by marriage, Henry “Light-Horse” Lee would be a hero of the Revolution, Governor of Virginia and the father of Robert E. Lee.
Then there was Richard Henry Lee. He would outshine all of the Lee boys and that was no easy task.
Tall and handsome, he was a born orator, a classicist, part man, part mythological hero. William Wirt, the United States Attorney General under Monroe and JQ Adams wrote of Richard Henry Lee:
“Richard Henry Lee was the Cicero of the [Virginia] house [of burgesses]. His face itself, was on the Roman model; his nose Cæsarean; the port and carriage of his head, leaning persuasively and gracefully forward; and the whole contour noble and fine. Mr. Lee was, by far, the most elegant scholar in the house. He had studied the classics in the true spirit of criticism….He possessed a rich store of historical and political knowledge, with an activity of observation, and a certainty of judgment, that turned that knowledge to the very best account. He was not a lawyer by profession; but he understood thoroughly the constitution both of the mother country and of her colonies; and the elements also, of the civil and municipal law….The note of his voice was deeper and more melodious than that of Mr. Pendleton. It was the canorous voice of Cicero….[H]e required no preparation for debate. He was ready for any subject, as soon as it was announced; and his speech was so copious, so rich, so mellifluous, set off with such bewitching cadence of voice, and such captivating grace of action, that, while you listened to him, you desired to hear nothing superior, and indeed thought him perfect.” (quoted from William Wirt’s biography of Patrick Henry).
With that description – and being from the Lee family – clearly Richard Henry Lee was destined to play a major role in the cause of American independence.
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Richard Henry Lee possessed a heroic countenance and demeanor from day one. He also had a streak of rebellion in him. These qualities infuriated his opponents but made him a champion for the cause of liberty and independence.
It doesn’t appear that Richard Henry Lee was afraid of much. Certainly he was not afraid of controversy. When he entered the Virginia House of Burgesses, his first bill was a proposal to tax the importation of slaves so aggressively that the slave trade and eventually slavery itself would die in Virginia. In 1765, in one of the first deliberate acts of colonial sedition against the British crown, Richard Henry Lee organized a group of more than 100 men in Leedstown, Westmoreland County, who signed the Westmoreland Resolves, which Lee had drafted. The Resolves threatened anyone who paid the tax with “danger and disgrace.”
By the 1770’s, Richard Henry Lee was firmly placed at the vanguard of the drive for American independence. In 1774, he was one of the seven-man delegation of Virginians to the Continental Congress. In his first term, Lee tirelessly worked to create alliances between the southern colonies and the northern colonies, forging a bond with both John and Sam Adams of Massachusetts.
By 1776, when the delegates (including Richard Henry’s brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee) met in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee distinguished himself with his months of tireless service on 18 committees. When the time arrived, Lee’s shuttling back and forth between delegates of the north and the south made him the logical member of the Continental Congress to introduce a bill on June 7, 1776, which provided:
“…That these united Colonies are, and ought to be, free 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…”
His bill was adopted on July 2, 1776. Meanwhile, fellow members of the Continental Congress Franklin, Jefferson, John Adams, Livingston, and Sherman drafted the public pronouncement which was to follow, what we know as the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified on July 4, 1776. In it, signatories were called upon to take the next step to ensure independence – to pledge their lives, fortune and sacred honor to the cause and to ensure that the vote they had cast as Continental Congressmen would be backed up with action.
The American Revolution thus became a reality.
The American Revolution was not the work of one man; far from it. But one man alone can claim the honor of introducing the bill in the Congress which declared that the people of the colonies, through their duly elected representatives, were independent from the British crown.
That man is Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
Check out Mark’s book: Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor: The Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence
