Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Page 12]
Harvie, John, was born in Gargunnock, Scotland, and at an early age emigrated to Virginia, settled in Albemarle county, and entered upon the practice of law. After the defeat of the Indians at Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774, he was appointed by the general assembly of Virginia a commissioner to treat with them, and represented West Augusta county in the Virginia conventions. He was elected to the Continental Congress May 22, 1777, and was a signer of the articles of confederation the following year. He served as purchasing agent for Virginia, was register of the land office of that state from 1780 to 1791, and May 19, 1788, was commissioned secretary of the commonwealth. While inspecting the building of the celebrated Gamble House, erected by him in Richmond, he was killed by falling from a ladder, February 6, 1807.

[Page 12]
Henry, James, was born in Accomac county, Virginia, in 1731, of Scotch ancestry. He studied law at the University of Edinburgh and practiced in Virginia, where he married Sarah Scarborough. He was a burgess from Accomac county in 1772; a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1780-1781; judge of the court of admiralty, 1782-88, and judge of the general court from December 24, 1788, until January, 1800, when he resigned. He had six children: Edward Hugh, who married (first) Martha Catherine, daughter of Governor Patrick and Dorothea (Dandridge) Henry, and (second) Elizabeth Washington, daughter of Dr. Valentine and Betty (Washington) Peyton; Samuel; John; Mary, who married John Wise, who by his second marriage became father of Henry A. Wise, governor of Virginia; Tabitha, and Sarah Elizabeth. Judge Henry died in Accomac county, December 9, 1804.

[Pages 12-13]
Henry, Patrick, was born at "Studley," Hanover county, Virginia, May 29, 1736; son of John and Sarah (Winston) Syme Henry, and grandson of Alexander and Jean (Robertson) Henry, of Scotland, who came to Virginia prior to 1730, and of Isaac and Mary (Dabney) Winston. John Henry was a member of the Church of England, a classical scholar, and a brother of the Rev. Patrick Henry, first rector of St. George's parish, Spottsylvania county, and ultimately of St Paul's parish, Hanover county. His mother was a Presbyterian, a sister of Rev. William Robertson, of the Old Grey Friars Church, Edinburgh, and cousin of Rev. William Robertson, the Scottish historian. After Patrick was ten years old, his father was his only tutor. He became proficient in Latin, gained a little knowledge of Greek and was a good mathematician. He was well versed in ancient and modern history when he was fifteen, and had acquired some knowledge of the French language. When eighteen years of age he established with his brother William, a country store which they conducted unprofitably one year and then wound up the business. He was married in 1754 to Sarah, daughter of John Shelton, also of Hanover county. He made a poor existence by farming and was frequently helped by his father. To add to his misfortunes, his dwelling house was burned, together with his furniture. He then sold some of his negroes and with the proceeds purchased a stock of goods for a country store. Two years' experience found him in debt. he thereupon commenced the study of law, and within six weeks after taking up "Coke upon Littleton" and "Digest of the Virginia Acts," he appeared before Peyton and John Randolph, George Wythe, Robert C. Nicholas and Edmund Pendleton, at Williamsburg, to be examined for admission to the bar. The Randolphs signed the license, but Wythe refused, while Nicholas and Pendleton, on promise of future reading, also signed the license. Henry appears to have been sensible to his deficiencies, for he continued his studies some months before beginning to practice. On November 3, 1763, he was retained by the colony in the celebrated "parsons cause," involving the constitutionality of the "option law," also known as the"two-penny act," passed by the Virginia legislature in 1757. He discussed the mutual relations and reciprocal duties of the King to his subjects and of the clergy to their parishioners, and when he declared that the King who would insist on such a principle as advanced would, instead of remaining the father of his people, degenerate into a tyrant and would forfeit all his rights to the obedience of his subjects, the murmur of "treason" ran through the court-house. When the jury brought in a verdict of one penny for the plaintiff, the people bore the young advocate on their shoulders in triumph around the court-yard. Patrick Henry, in the Hanover court-house, had struck the keynote of the American revolution. In 1765 he was elected to the house of burgesses. He took his seat May 20, and met all his examiners of two years before except John Randolph, besides many other distinguished statesmen of Virginia. Nine days after he had taken his seat he offered resolutions denying the right of Great Britain to enforce the Stamp Act in Virginia. Peyton Randolph, Pendleton, wythe, and others opposed the resolutions, but after what Jefferson characterized a "most bloody" debate, Henry carried his resolutions by a majority of one. It was in this debate that he electrified the house with "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third ———" "Treason! treason!" re-echoed from every part of the house. Without faltering, but rising to a loftier attitude and fixing on the speaker an eye which seemed to flash fire, Henry completed his sentence, "may profit by their example. If this be treason make the most of it." From that moment Patrick Henry was the political leader of Virginia. In 1769 he was admitted to practice in the general court and attained eminence in criminal cases. in May, 1773, he helped in organizing and was a member of the committee of correspondence. In 1774 he was delegate to the Virginia convention, the first public assembly to recommend an annual general Congress. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1774-76, and opened his first session by a speech in which he declared, "I am not a Virginian, but an American." He served on the committee to prepare the address to the King, but his draft was to advanced for the conservative party, and the address was modified. When the proposition of Joseph Galloway for a plan of reconciliation with England was before Congress and apparently had the sanction of that body, Mr. Henry led the opposition and was the only one to speak against it. The vote of one colony defeated the measure, and Patrick Henry alone arose to the occasion that precipitated the war. He moved before the Virginia convention, March 23, 1775, to put the colony in a state of defence preparatory to war which was threatening. The delegates met in St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, and Mr. Henry for two days listened to the proceedins toward an amicalb settlement of the colonies and England. He foresaw in any comprmise acceptable to the King, absolute submission that would be little less than slavery, and he prepared a set of resolutions providing for an immediate organization of the militia and the placing of the colony in a condition of defense. The reading of these resolutions alarmed some, who asked him to withdraw his resolutions. Instead of this he pronounced his immortal oration, closing with the sentence, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" The Virginia convention of 1775 made him commander of all the Virginia forces, and commissioned him colonel of the First Virginia Regiment. When the Virginia troops were taken into the Continental army, Congress commissioned a subordinate, brigadier-general, and offered a single regiment to Colonel Henry, who declined any commission from that body. He was elected to the Virginia convention of May, 1776, charged with "the care of the "republic," the royal governor having fled. This convention framed a new constitution and elected Henry the first governor of the state on the first ballot. He was re-elected in 1777, 1778, 1784 and 1785,. and in 1786 declined a re-election. In 1777 he planned and sent out the George Rogers Clarke expedition which conquered the north west. He served in the Virginia convention that ratified the Federal constitution, and after vehemently opposed it as dangerous to the liberties of the people, he offered amendments to the instrument which were partially adopted. In 1794 he declined the appointment of United States senator made by Governor Henry Lee, and withdrew from public life. In 1795 he declined the position of secretary of state in President Washington's cabinet, in 1796 the position of chief justice of the United States supreme court, and the nomination for governor of Virginia, and in 1797, the mission to France offered by President Adams. In 1799 he allowed himself to be elected to the state legislature in order to oppose the Virginia resolutions of 1798, but he died before taking his seat. His first wife died in 1775, and October 9, 1777, he married Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge, a granddaughter of Governor Alexander Spotswood. His life was written by William Wirt (1887), and by his grandson, William Wirt Henry (3 vols. 1891-92). His body lies in a grave on the estate in Charlotte county, where he formerly lived, and the simple gravestone is inscribed with the one line, "His Fame His Best Epitaph." He died at "Red Hill," Charlotte county, June 6, 1799.

[Page 14]
Holt, James (q. v., i-259)

[Pages 14-15]
Holt, William, son of John Holt, who was a justice of York in 1757, and mayor of Williamsburg; was a Presbyterian, and partner with Rev. Charles Jefferey Smith, of Long Island, New York, in founding Providence Forge, in New Kent county, Virginia, where they had a forge and mills. he was a signer of the association entered into May 27, 1774, against the importation of British goods, and mayor of Williamsburg. In 1776 he was made a commissioner in admiralty. He died in 1791, leaving several sons and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married William Coleman, of James City county. His sister, Mary, married Rev. Samuel Davies, the noted Presbyterian divine.

[Pages 15-17]
Jefferson, Thomas, son of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph, of "Dungeness," Goochland county, Virginia, was born at "Shadwell," Albemarle county, April 2, 1743. Though his father died when he was fourteen years old, he was thoroughly trained by private tutors, and spent two years (1760-1762) at William and Mary College. he then studied law for five years under Chancellor Wythe, in Williamsburg, and was admitted to the bar when twenty-four years old. In 1769 he was elected to the house of burgesses from Albemarle, and became at once one of the group of new men who took the lead in public affairs. In 1773 he assisted in establishing committees of correspondence between the colonies the first step towards Union. In 1774 he drafted instructions for the Virginia delegates to the first Congress, assuming the extreme ground taken by Bland in 1766, and summing up, with trenchant pen, that easily gave him the first place among American writers, the rights and wrongs of the continent. This magnificent paper contained every idea in the Declaration of Independence except the explicit statement of separation. It was published in pamphlet form under the title of "a Summary View of the Rights of British America."
Political events absorbed his attention, and he relinquished his law practice, which was very extensive. He was a member of the Virginia convention of March, 1775, and when Patrick Henry made his motion to organize the militia, Jefferson argued "closely, profoundly, and warmly on the same side." In the house of burgesses, June, 1775, he prepared a masterly reply to Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition," and soon after, in the second Congress, to which he was elected June 20, 1775, on the retirement of Peyton Randolph, he prepared a similar paper as the answer of that body. He attended the third Congress, which met in Philadelphia, September 25, 1775, but left before it adjourned, and did not again present himself till May 13, 1776. Then as chairman of a committee, he drafted the Declaration of Independence, which has immortalized him. On September 2, 1776, he resigned from Congress and returned home, but Congress, unwilling to dispense with his services, associated him with Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane to negotiate treaties of alliance and commerce with France. This appointment he declined on account of his wife's declining health, and in October he took his seat in the house of delegates of Virginia, and applied himself to reforming the Virginia code. The great series of bills which he prepared, and which in great part were adopted, concerning the descent of lands, religion, education and slavery, constitutes a great monument to his ability and patriotism. In January, 1779, he succeeded Patrick Henry as governor, and was re-elected in 1780. Among his important measures in this office were the removal of the capitol to Richmond, his maintaining Virginia's quota in Washington's army in the North, and his supplying General Greene's army in the South with provisions and munitions of war.
Jefferson narrowly escaped capture when Cornwallis' troops were so near Charlottesville that the legislature had to adjourn to Staunton. He declined to apply for a third election to the governorship in 1781, and employed his leisure in writing his "Notes on Virginia," a work still regarded most highly. Congress appointed h im one of the commissioners to treat for peace, but he declined because of the illness of his wife, who died September 6, 1782. Later he accepted the office of peace commissioner, but peace was restored before he could sail for Europe. In 1783 he was elected to Congress, which sat at Anapolis, May 7, 1784. In this body his most prominent work was the ordinance for the government of the north-west territory. Congress again elected him minister, in conjunction with Mr. Adams and Benjamin Franklin, to negotiate treaties of commerce with foreign nations. He sailed from Boston, July 5, 1784, and reached Paris, August 6. On the resignation of Dr. Franklin he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France. His three years there resulted in his arrangement of a satisfactory consular system between France and the United States. He meantime traveled extensively in Europe, and became intimate with many famous scientists, and his "Notes on Virginia," appearing in a French translation, won for him great admiration. In November, 1789, he returned home on a six months leave of absence, and found awaiting him his appointment as secretary of state by President Washington, which he accepted. During his five years service in this office, he distinguished himself by many important public reports, but the differences with Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, grew so acute that Jefferson resigned, January 1, 1794, Washington vainly endeavoring to retain him. In September, 1794, Washington urged him strongly to resume the state secretaryship, but he positively declined, declaring with emphasis that nothing could induce him to again engage in the public service. However, in 1796, he was the presidential candidate of the Democratic-Republican party, and his vote being next larges to adams, under the consititution he became vice-president. This office imposed but light duties, and he gave much of his time to study and research, and prepared his ffamous "Manual of Parliamentary Practice," which has been the principal guide in Congress to the present day. In 1800 he again became the candidate of his party for the presidency, but though his vote in the electoral college was greater than his Federalist competitor, an equal vote was given to Aaron Burr, whom the Republicans intended to be vice-president, and the elections under the constitution, as it then stood, came to the house of representatives. Here after a long continued attempt of the Federalists to reverse the decision of the people and to place Burr in the presidency, Jefferson was finally declared president. In this high office he held to the simplest forms of conduct, abolishing weekly levees, elaborate precedence, rules, etc. A signal innovation consisted in his communicating his messages in writing instead of delivering them in person as Washington and Adams had done. This continued to be the rule for all his successors till present conditions having removed the old objections, President Wilson revived the obsolete practice of John Adams. His most notable achievement as president was the purchase of the vast Louisiana territory, which was practically his own unaided work. Second only in importance to this was his success in keeping the country from becoming involved in the European wars. Re-elected in 1804, he retired after the close of his second term to his home, "Monticello," near Charlottesville, Virginia. The work of his latter days was the University of Virginia, which he projected and lived long enough to see in perfect working order. He superintended every detail, laid down the plans for all the severely classical Buildings, procured the funds for their erection, and mapped out the collegiate curricula. At his beautiful mansion, "Monticello," he entertained the most distinguished men of his day, and there, after his death, his daughter, Mrs. Randolph, passed the remainder of her life in ease and comfort, with the aid of $10,000 gratuity from the states of Virginia and South Carolina, granted as a tribute to the memory of her illustrious father. His affairs had become badly involved, and he had been obliged to sell to Congress his valuable library for about one-fourth of its cost. He died July 4, 1826, and was buried at "Monticello," where his grave was marked with a stone bearing the following inscription written by himself: "Here was buried Thoms Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statue of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." This was afterwards replaced with a massive pillar erected by the government of the United States, and bearing the same inscription. From the day of his death to the present time, no other public man has been so often quoted. In originality of mind, versatility of talent, general sweep of intellect, universality of knowledge, power over men, and conception of the right of mankind, he stood easily head an shoulders above all his great contemporaries. Washington alone surpassed him in moral force.

[Page 17]
Jones, Gabriel (q. v., i-267).

[Pages 17-18]
Jones, Joseph, son of James Jones, a building contractor, was born in King George county, Virginia, in 1727, and was an influential member of the house of burgesses from King George county in the assemblies of 1772-1774, and 1775, and was also a member of the committee of safety in 1775, and of all the conventions of 1774, 1775 and 1776. He was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1777-78 and 1780-83. He was judge of the general court, 1778-79, and was re-appointed November 19, 1789. He was a member of the conventions of 1788, and served in the Virginia state militia as major-general. He was frequently a member of the house of delegates, and through his opposition the proposition of the legislature to revoke the release given to the United States of the territory northwest of the Ohio river, was rejected, and the legislature was induced to conform to the wishes of the Federal Congress. His sister, Elizabeth, married Spence Monroe, and became the mother of James Monroe, president of the United States. Mr. Jones died in King George county, October 28, 1805. His letters have been recently published by Worthington C. Ford, and show him to have been a man of decided ability and originality.

[Page 18]
Jones, Walter, son of Colonel Thomas Jones, of Hanover county, and Elizabeth Cocke, daughter of Dr. William Cocke, secretary of state, and Elizabeth Catesby, his wife, of Northumberland county, was born December 18, 1745. He was student at William and Mary College in 1760, with Thomas Jefferson, and afterwards studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he was graduated M. D., June 12, 1769. He was described "as the most shining young gent of his profession now in Edinburgh," and certain to "make a great figure wherever he goes." He returned to Virginia in 1770, and resided at Hayfield, Lancaster county, and acquired a large practice. He was a warm advocate of American rights, and in 1777 was appointed by Congress to be physician-general, a position which he declined. During the revolution he was a member of the house of delegates, and in 1786 was a delegate to the convention at Annapolis. After the establishment of the new constitution he was a member of Congress from 1797 to 1799 and from 1803 to 1811. He married Alice Flood, daughter of Dr. William Flood, of Richmond county, and was father of the eminent lawyer, General Walter Jones, of Washington. He died in Westmoreland county, Virginia, December 31, 1815. He was a master of colloquial eloquence and irony.

[Pages 18-19]
Lee, Arthur was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Virginia, December 21, 1740, eighth and youngest son of Governor Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee, grandson of Colonel Richard and Laetitia (Corbin) Lee, and of Colonel Philip Ludwell, of Green Spring, Virginia, and great-grandson of Richard and Ann Lee, and of Philip Ludwell, governor of North Caroline, 1689-91. He was educated at Eton and the University of Edinburgh. After journeying through Holland and Germany he returned and practiced medicine in Williamsburg. The efforts to enforce the Stamp Act determined him to study law in order to assist the colonies in obtaining redress. He studied law in the Temple, London, 1768-70, and practiced in London, 1770-76, meantime studying the Colonial questions and discussing the Townshend acts and other aggressive measures proposed by parliament. He won fame as a writer, signing himself "Monitor" and "Junius Americanus" and was the author of "An Appeal to the English Nation." He was a leading member of the "Supporters of the Bill of Rights," organized for the discussion of the measures of the British ministry and the restoration to the American colonies of the right to regulate taxes through their own representatives. He gained the friendship of Burke, Priestly, Dunning, Baire and Sir William Jones, and was admitted to a fellowship in the Royal Society. He was appointed by the general court of Massachusetts in 1770 as representative for that colony in London, as associate with Benjamin Franklin, Jay and Dickinson, to open correspondence with friends of America in Europe, and was made secret agent of the committee in London, and opened negotiations with the French government which led to his residence in Paris in 1776. In 1776 Congress appointed him a joint commissioner with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane to secure a treaty of alliance with France, and in 1777 he was intrusted with special missions to Spain and Prussia, and in October, 1778, was continued as sole commissioner to Spain, also acting in the same capacity to the court of Prussia, but residing in Paris. His frequent quarrels with Franklin and Deane led to his recall in 1779. He was a representative in the general assembly of Virginia, 1781; a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1781-84; Indian commissioner in Western New York and Pennsylvania, 1784, and a member of the board of treasury, 1784-89. He was opposed to the adoption of the Federal constitution. he retired to his estate, "Lansdowne," at Urbanna, Middlesex county, Virginia, in 1789, where he devoted himself to his books and correspondence. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard College in 1781. He died unmarried, at Urbanna, Virginia, December 12, 1792.

[Page 19]
Lee, Francis Lightfoot, was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Virginia, October 14, 1734, son of Hon. Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee. He was educated at Stratford by Rev. Mr. Craig, a Scotch clergyman. He became a member of the house of burgesses for Loudoun county, and with his brother, in 1765, signed the Westmoreland declaration against the Stamp Act. Upon his marriage to Rebecca, daughter of Colonel John Tayloe, of Richmond county, in 1772, he made that county his home, and was elected to represent it in the house of burgesses. He succeeded Colonel Richard Bland as delegate to the Continental Congress, August 15, 1775, serving 1775-79. He signed the Declaration of Independence, assisted in preparing the articles of confederation, and defended the rights of the states to the Newfoundland fisheries and the free navigation of the Mississippi river. He retired from Congress in the spring of 1779, and resumed his duties as master of extensive estates, and as justice of the peace of Richmond county. He represented the county in the state legislature for one or two terms. He died in Richmond county, April 3, 1797. He was sixth son of President Thomas Lee.

[Pages 19-21]
Lee, Henry, was born at Leesylvania, Westmoreland county, Virginia, January 29, 1756, son of Henry and Lucy (Grymes) Lee, grandson of Henry and Mary (Bland) Lee, great-grandson of John and Lettice Lee, great-great-grandson of Richard and Laetitia (Corbin) Lee, and great-great-great-grandson of Colonel Richard and Anne Lee. Henry Lee was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A. B., 1773, A. M., 1776. Prevented from visiting Europe by the preparations for revolution, he returned to Virginia, recruited a company of "light horse" in 1775, was appointed captain in Colonel Theodorick Bland's legion of Virginia cavalry, and in 1777 joined Washington's army in Pennsylvania. He was appointed major for gallant conduct in battle, in January, 1778, and was given command of two troops of horse, to which he added a third troop and a company of infantry, and "Lee's Legion" became an independent partisan corps and its leader received the cognomen, "Lighthorse Harry." This corps constantly hung on the flank of the British army, and annoyed both their march and camp. On July 19, 1779, Lee surprised the British at Paulus Hook, New York harbor, and with the loss of five of his riders carried off 160 prisoners, for which service Congress gave him a gold medal. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and marched to South Carolina, where he covered the rear of General Greene's army. After Greene had crossed into Virginia, Lee remained in the mountains of North Carolina to encourage the Whigs and harrass Tarleton and the loyalists. his efforts to surprise the British dragoons were unsuccessful, but he defeated 400 loyalists under Colonel Pyle. At Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781, his legion proved more than a match for Tarleton's dragoons, and, when General Greene marched against Camden, he sent Lee and Marion to cut off Rawdon's communications with the seacoast, and they captured Fort Watson, which forced Rawdon to abandon and burn Camden, May 10, 1781. Colonel Lee then proceeded south, capturing Forts Mott and Granby, and May 25 reached Augusta, Georgia, which city also fell into his hands June 5, 1781. He rejoined Greene's army, and took part in the siege of Fort Ninety-six, which after twenty-eight days was raised on the approach of Rawdon with 2000 men. In the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, Lee's Legion rendered distinguished service, and when the British retreated to Charleston, Lee followed so closely as to capture a large number of Rawdon's rear-guard. He witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, and soon after resigned his commission and became proprietor of "Stratford House," by his marriage to his second cousin, Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia, 1785-88, and a member of the convention called to ratify the Federal constitution in 1788, and in that body, with Madison and Marshall, he opposed the efforts of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, James Monroe, Benjamin Harrison and John Tyler, to defeat the ratification. He was a representative in the general assembly, 1789-91, and governor 1792-95. President Washington, in 1794, commissioned him major-general in command of troops sent to Western Pennsylvania to suppress the whiskey insurrection, and on his appearance with 15,000 men the insurrectionists were overawed and peace was restored without bloodshed. He was a representative in the sixth Congress, 1799-1801, and at the close retired to private life. He married (second) in 1798, Ann Hill, daughter of Charles and Anne Butler (Moore) Carter. of Shirley, Virginia. He was oppressed by debt the last years of his life. On July 27, 1812, while in Baltimore on a visit to William Hanson, editor of the "Federal Republican," the printing office was attacked by a mob, and in the conflict that followed he was left for dead upon the street, where he was found insensible. He was disqualified for military service from the effects of this encounter. He visited the West Indies in 1817 for the benefit of his health, and on his way home he stopped at the homestead of General Greene, near St. Mary's, Georgia, where he was entertained by Mrs. Shaw, daughter of his old commander, and under whose roof he died. He was the author of: "funeral Oration upon President Washington," (1799), delivered before both houses of Congress, in which occur the owrds, "The man, first in war, first in peace, and firt in the hearts of his fellow-citizens"; and of "War in the Southern United States" (2 vols., 1812). He died on Cumberland Island, Georgia, March 25, 1818. Recently his remains were removed to Lexington, Virginia, and interred by the side of his illustrious son, General Robert E. Lee.

[Pages 21-22]
Lee, Richard Henry, fifth son of Thomas Lee, president of the Colonial council, and Hannah Ludwell, his wife, was born in Westmoreland county, January 26, 1732. He was schooled at Wakefield Academy, Yorkshire, England, and returning to America in his nineteenth year studied independently until 1755, when he headed a company of volunteers for service against the French and Indians, but was rebuffed by Braddock. In 1757 he was appointed a justice of the peace for Westmoreland county, and in 1758 was chosen to the house of burgesses, of which he continued a member till its expiration in 1775. In the house of burgesses he proposed "to lay so heavy a tax upon slave importation as to end that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony." In November, 1764, he served on a committee to draft an address to the King, a memorial to the house of lords and a remonstrance to the commons, and prepared the first and second of these papers. In February, 1766, he organized the Westmoreland Association, and wrote its resolutions in opposition to the Stamp Act. In 1768 he suggested in a private letter the establishment of intercolonial committees, and was one of the caucus, in 1773, that caused the adoption of the plan by the general assembly. He was elected to the first Continental Congress, 1774, and prepared its memorial to the people of British America, and wrote the address of the next Congress to the people of Great Britain. As chairman of the committee, he drew up the instructions to Washington on his assuming command of the Continental army. He was a member of the Virginia conventions of 1774, 1775 and 1776, and on June 7, 1776, in accordance with the instructions from the last convention he introduced in Congress the famous resolution: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." He received word of the serious illness of his wife, and left Philadelphia to visit her. he did not return until the Declaration had been passed and signed, and he then added his signature to that immortal instrument. He served in the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1780, and from 1784 to 1787, and was a signer of the articles of confederation in 1778.he is said to have served on nearly one hundred committees during the session of 1776-1777. When not serving in Congress, he served in the state house of delegates. He opposed the adoption of the constitution of 1787, deeming the powers granted to the Federal government as too extensive. After its ratification he served as senator, mainly for the purpose of urging certain amendments, and many of which he was instrumental in securing. After serving as senator, 1789-92, he resigned in the latter year. He was president pro tem. of the senate, April to November, 1782. He married (first) Anne Aylett, and (second) Mrs. Anne (Gaskins) Pinckard. As an orator he was only excelled by Patrick Henry, and as a leader in the revolutionary movement he stands among the first. His memoirs, political correspondence and political pamphlets were published by his grandson, Richard Henry Lee, in 1825. He died at his residence, "Chantilly," in Westmoreland county, June 19, 1794.