| The 4th President |
| Richard Henry Lee |
| (1732-1794) |
Richard Henry Lee had the advantage in life of living during one of the most
crucial times in American History. Allowing him to take part in one of the
greatest events the world has witnessed, the pregnancy, birth, and childhood of
the United States of America. Striving against the British Crown with such men
as Patrick Henry,
John
Adams, and
Benjamin Franklin, his influence has a lasting effect on the outcome of
American History.
Richard's career began, like most begin, by his birth into the famed, old family of Virginia, the Lee family. Richard was born on the 20th of January 1732, at his family's plantation, near Stratford, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the oldest of four boys, Francis Lightfoot Lee, William Lee, and Arthur Lee. He was educated early on in life by private tutoring at his family home in Virginia. Having reached the latter years of his education, his family sent him off to England to complete his studies. Finally on completing his education he returned home, from England, in 1752.
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Virginian Richard Henry Lee was a born aristocrat. An active participant in many key events in the Revolutionary War, Lee protested the Stamp Act in Virginia (1765), sat on the committee that named George Washington Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army (1775), and introduced the motion that led to the Declaration of Independence (1776). While in the Continental Congress (1774- 1780, 1784-1787) he also worked to stop importation of slaves into the American states. Yet, despite his experience in the Continental Congress -- America's national legislature -- Lee distrusted a strong national government, fearing that the individual states would lose rights and power. Unconvinced that the Constitution was the answer to the country's problems of government, he worked against its ratification. In Lee's words: "To say that a bad government must be established for fear of anarchy is really saying that we should kill ourselves for fear of dying." |