Ballagh, James Curtis, ed. The Letters of Richard Henry Lee. 2 vols. 1911. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.
LEE, Richard Henry
1732–1794
Biography
LEE, Richard Henry, (brother of Arthur Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, and great–grandfather of Blair Lee), a Delegate and a Senator from Virginia; born at "Stratford," in Westmoreland County, Va., January 20, 1732; after a course of private instruction attended Wakefield Academy, England; returned in 1751; justice of the peace for Westmoreland County 1757; member, house of burgesses 1758-1775; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1779; sponsor of the independence resolution; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; author of the first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation issued by Congress at York, Pa., October 31, 1777; member, State house of delegates 1777, 1780, 1785; served as colonel of the Westmoreland Militia; again a Member of the Continental Congress 1784-1785 and 1787 and served as President of the Congress in 1784; member of the Virginia convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in 1788; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, until his resignation October 8, 1792; served as President pro tempore during the Second Congress; retired from public life; died at his home, "Chantilly," Westmoreland County, Va., June 19, 1794; interment in the old family burying ground at "Mount Pleasant," near Hague, Westmoreland County, Va.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
American Philosophical Society
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
1763-1823. 201 items. Official and personal correspondence principally from the period of the American Revolution. Finding aid.
Additional Papers:
Correspondence in Thomas Jefferson papers, 1775-1825; George Weedon military correspondence, 1777-1786; and Lee family papers, 1740-1795, 8 microfilm reels by the University of Virginia of originals at various repositories. Finding aid.
Cornell University Libraries
Rare Books and Manuscript Collections
Ithaca, NY
Papers:
1 letter (January 3, 1792) to Benjamin Lincoln and 1 letter (December 24, 1784) to John Houston in Washington Irving's Life of George Washington, Volume III, Miscellany, 1756-1807; 1 letter (April 12, 1769) and 1 portrait in Volume XI, Miscellany, 1755-1785; and 1 portrait in Volume XII, Miscellany, 1769-1838. Finding aid.
Georgia Historical Society
Savannah, GA
Papers:
Correspondence in Eighteenth Century Governors of Georgia collection, 1754-1801.
Harvard University
Houghton Library
Cambridge, MA
Papers:
1 item (July 24, 1789) in George F. Hoar autograph collection; and in the Arthur Lee papers, 1744-1882. Finding aid.
Henry E. Huntington Library
San Marino, CA
Papers:
May 1789. 1 item.
Historic New Orleans Collection
New Orleans, LA
Papers:
Correspondence in Butler family papes, 1778-1975.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
1 item (July 25, 1790) in Dreer collection; 1 item (February 24, 1791) in Charles Francis Jenkins collection; and correspondence in Robert Restalrig Logan collection, 1671-1863. Finding aid.
Johns Hopkins University
Milton S. Eisenhower Library
Baltimore, MD
Papers:
In Signers of Declaration of Independence collection, 1770-1826. Finding aid.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
4 boxes in Lee family papers, 1740-1795, available on 8 microfilm reels by the University of Virginia of originals in various repositories; and correspondence in Custis-Lee family papers, 1711-1924. Finding aid.
Additional Papers:
1 item (September 27, 1789) in Miscellaneous papers; 1 item (March 1, 1791) in E.C. Burnett collection; 2 items (November 17, 1788; November 17, 1789) in Richard Bland Lee papers; 1 item (January 15, 1791) in James Monroe papers; 1 item (September 14, 1789) in Patrick Henry papers; 5 items (April 6, 1789-September 29, 1790) in George Washington papers; 17 items (August 4, 1789-July 8, 1790) in Thomas L. Shippen papers; in Henry Woodhouse collection, 1656-1930; and items in various other collections.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, MA
Papers:
1773-1789. 17 items. Finding aid.
Morristown National Historic Park
Morristown, NJ
Papers:
1 item (August 5, 1789) in W. Smith collection.
New Hampshire Historical Society
Concord, NH
Papers:
Correspondence in John Langdon papers, 1762-1972.
New York Historical Association Library
Cooperstown, NY
Papers:
Correspondence in Miscellaneous manuscripts, 1775-1979. Finding aid.
New York Public Library
New York, NY
Papers:
1 item (April 25, 1789) in Sam Adams papers; 2 items (May 23, 26, 1789) in Emmet collection; 2 items (June 7, 1789; August 8, 1789) in Miscellaneous papers.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers:
1776-1793. 11 items.
Rosenbach Museum and Library
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
1777-1794. 6 items. Correspondence and documents. Finding aid.
Stanford University Libraries
Special Collections
Stanford, CA
Papers:
Correspondence in Timothy Hopkins' Washington Irving collection, 1683-1839 (bulk 1753-1839). Finding aid.
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Archives Division
Madison, WI
Papers:
Correspondence in George Rogers Clark miscellaneous papers, 1776-1788.
University of Virginia
Alderman Library
Charlottesville, VA
Papers:
1758-1795. Ca. 450 items.
Additional Papers:
35 reels of microfilm of originals at various repositories; and ca. 300 items in various collections. Finding aid.
University of South Carolina
South Caroliniana Library
Columbia, SC
Papers:
Correspondence in Pierce Butler letterbook, 1790-1794. Finding aid.
Virginia Historical Society
Richmond, VA
Papers:
1765-1793. 700 items. Also photographs.
Additional Papers:
2 items (June 24, 1789; August 8, 1790) in Lee-Ludwell papers; 1 item (September 1, 1790) in Peyton family papers; 2 items (November 4, 1788; May 30, 1789) in Edmund Jennings Lee papers; 4 items (September 13, 1789-June 10, 1790) in Lee family papers; 1 item (September 28, 1789); and correspondence with Patrick Henry in Henry family papers, 1763-1920.
Virginia State Library and Archives
Richmond, VA
Papers:
1776-1778. 3 letters.
Additional Papers:
In Charles Carter Lee collection, 1768-1931 (bulk 1813-1870), microfilm; 3 executive communications (May 25, 1790-March 4, 1791); in Tazewell family papers, 1772-1866; and portraits.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers:
1 item (May 10, 1789) in Franklin collection; and 8 microfilm reels by the University of Virginia Library of originals (1740-1795) in various repositories. Finding aid.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Bowers, Paul Chadwick, Jr. "Richard Henry Lee and the Continental Congress: 1774-1779.'' Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 1965.
Chitwood, Oliver Perry. Richard H. Lee, Statesman of the Revolution. Morgantown: West Virginia University Library, 1967.
Hoffman, Paul P., and John Lambert Molyneaux, eds. Lee Family Papers, 1742-1795. University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, 1966. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1989. Microfilm. 8 reels and guide.
Lee, Richard Henry [1794-1865]. Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee. 2 vols. Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, 1825.
Maier, Pauline. "A Virginian as Revolutionary: Richard Henry Lee.'' In The Old Revolutionaries: Political Lives in the Age of Samuel Adams, pp. 164-200. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
Matthews, John Carter. Richard Henry Lee. Edited by Edward M. Riley. Williamsburg: Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
___. "Richard Henry Lee and the American Revolution.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 1939.
___. "Two Men on a Tax: Richard Henry Lee, Archibald Ritchie, and the Stamp Act.'' In The Old Dominion: Essays for Thomas Perkins Abernethy, edited by Darrett B. Rutman, pp. 96-108. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1964.
Nagel, Paul C. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Selby, John E. "Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, and the Virginia Constitution of 1776.'' Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 84 (October 1976): 387-400.
Smither, Ethel. "Richard Henry Lee.'' Richmond College Historical Papers 1 (June 1915): 38-56.
Virginia, Mary Elizabeth. "Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Biography.'' Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York, Buffalo, 1992.