Richard Henry Lee—Francis Lightfoot Lee—Carter Braxton.

Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration, was born at Stratford, on the Potomac, in Westmoreland, January the 20th, 1732, about a month before the birth of Washington. The father of Richard Henry was Thomas Lee; the mother, Hannah, daughter of Colonel Philip Ludwell, of Greenspring, of the old family of that name, in Somersetshire, England, who were originally, it is said, from Germany. Richard Henry Lee's early days were passed somewhat after the Spartan manner, his mother, one of the high-toned aristocracy of Virginia, confining her care to her daughters and her eldest son, and leaving her younger sons pretty much to shift for themselves. After a course of private tuition in his father's house, Richard Henry was sent to Wakefield Academy, Yorkshire, England, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in his studies, particularly in the Latin and Greek. Having finished his course at this school, he travelled through England, and visited London. He returned when about nineteen years of age to his native country, two years after his father's death, which occurred in 1750. Young Lee's fortune rendering it unnecessary for him to devote himself to a profession, he now passed a life of ease, but not of indolence; for he indulged his taste for letters, and diligently stored his mind with knowledge in the wide circle of theology, science, history, law, politics, and poetry. Being chosen (1755) captain of a company of volunteers raised in Westmoreland, he marched with them to Alexandria, and offered their services to General Braddock in his expedition against Fort Du Quesne; but the offer was declined. In his twenty-fifth year Mr. Lee was appointed a justice of the peace, and shortly after a burgess for his county. Naturally diffident, and finding himself surrounded by men of extraordinary abilities, for one or two sessions he took no part in the debates. One of his early efforts was a brief, but strong, elaborate speech in support of a resolution "to lay so heavy a tax on the importation of slaves as effectually to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia;" and on this occasion he argued against the institution of slavery as a portentous evil, moral and political.[660:A]

In November, 1764, when the meditated stamp act was first heard of in America, Mr. Lee, at the instance of a friend, wrote to England making application for the office of a collector under that act. It was difficult to retrieve so unpopular a step. During this year he brought before the assembly the subject of the act of parliament claiming a right to tax America; and he composed the address to the king, and the memorial to the commons. His accomplishments, learning, courtesy, patriotism, republican principles, decision of character and eloquence, commanded the attention of the legislature. Although a member at the time of the introduction of Henry's resolutions of 1765, Mr. Lee happened not to be present at the discussion; but he heartily concurred in their adoption; and shortly after their passage organized an association in Westmoreland in furtherance of them. When the defalcations of Treasurer Robinson came to be suspected, Mr. Lee, like Patrick Henry on another occasion of the same kind, insisted with firmness on an investigation of the state of the treasury. It was he who introduced the motion (November, 1776,) for separating the offices of speaker and treasurer; and he had a principal agency, together with Henry, in carrying that measure into effect.[660:B] A fragment of his speech on this occasion is preserved.

In the succeeding year he vigorously opposed the act laying a duty on tea, and that for quartering British troops in the colonies. He was now residing at Chantilly, his seat on the Potomac, a few miles below Stratford. In July, 1768, in a letter to John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lee suggested that not only select committees should be appointed by all the colonies, but that a private correspondence should be conducted between the lovers of liberty in every province. The Virginia Assembly, in 1773, (about the same time with that of Massachusetts,) appointed a committee of correspondence, consisting of six members, of whom Mr. Lee was one. In the next year he was a delegate in the congress that met at Philadelphia. Patrick Henry spoke first, and he was followed by Richard Henry Lee.

He was an active and laborious member of the leading committees, and he composed the memorial to the people of British America—a masterly document.[661:A] When Washington was chosen commander-in-chief, Mr. Lee, as chairman of the committee chosen for the occasion, prepared the commission and instructions. He prepared the second address to the people of Great Britain.

In May, 1776, the convention of Virginia passed a resolution instructing her delegates in congress to propose to that body to declare the colonies free and independent; and when those instructions were received at Philadelphia, the delegation appointed Mr. Lee to bring forward a proposition to that effect. He accordingly, on the second of June, made that motion, which was seconded by John Adams. On the tenth Mr. Lee received by express, from Virginia, intelligence of the dangerous illness of his wife; and he, therefore, left Philadelphia on the eleventh, the day on which a committee was appointed to draught a declaration of independence. Had he remained he might have been chairman of that committee, and author of the Declaration of Independence.[661:B]

That instrument was adopted on the eighth of July, and shortly afterwards Mr. Jefferson enclosed to Mr. Lee the original draught, and also a copy of it as adopted by Congress. In August Mr. Lee resumed his seat in that body.

He was in person tall and well proportioned; his features bold and expressive; nose, Roman; forehead high, not wide; eyes light colored; the contour of his face noble. He had lost by an accident the use of one of his hands; and was sometimes styled "the gentleman of the silver hand;" he kept it covered with a black silk bandage, but leaving his thumb free. Notwithstanding this disadvantage his gesture was very graceful. His voice was melodious, his elocution Ciceronian, his diction elegant and easy. His eloquence flowed on in tranquil beauty, like the stream of his own Potomac.[662:A] He was a member of the Episcopal church. He married first a Miss Aylett, and the children of that union were two sons and two daughters; secondly a lady named Pinkard, a widow.

Francis Lightfoot Lee, brother of Richard Henry, was born in October, 1734. He was educated under a private tutor. He inherited an independent fortune. He became, in 1765, a member of the house of burgesses, and continued in that body until 1775, when the convention returned him a member of congress, in which he remained until 1779, when he re-entered the assembly. His talents, as an orator and statesman, were of a high order, but it appears that he was never able to overcome his natural diffidence. His seat was Monocan, in the County of Richmond. He married Rebecca, daughter of Colonel John Tayloe, of Richmond County.

Carter Braxton was born at Newington, on the Matapony, in King and Queen, in September, 1736. His father, George Braxton, a wealthy planter, married Mary, daughter of Robert Carter, of the council, and in 1748 represented the County of King and Queen, being the colleague of John (known as speaker) Robinson. Carter Braxton was educated at the college of William and Mary. Inheriting in his youth, upon his father's death, a large estate, at the age of nineteen he married Judith, daughter of Christopher Robinson, of Middlesex. She dying, in 1757, Mr. Braxton visited England, where he remained for several years, and returned in 1760: a diary which he kept while abroad is preserved by his descendants. He married, in 1761, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Richard Corbin, of Laneville. During his first marriage he built a mansion at Elsin Green, on the Pamunkey, and afterwards another at Chericoke on the same river. He lived in a style of lavish hospitality, according to the fashion of that day. He was, in 1761, a member of the house of burgesses from the County of King William, and took an active part in the session of 1765. His colleague was Bernard Moore, of Chelsea, son-in-law of Governor Spotswood. Mr. Braxton was, in 1769, a delegate and a signer of the non-importation agreement. He was a member of the convention of 1774. In the following year, when Henry at the head of a party of volunteers had advanced within sixteen miles of Williamsburg, for the purpose of recovering the gunpowder removed by Dunmore, Mr. Braxton interposed his efforts to prevent extremities. In this course Mr. Braxton coincided with the moderate councils of Pendleton, Nicholas, and Peyton Randolph. During this year Mr. Braxton was a member of the assembly, and of the convention that met at Richmond. He was also one of the committee of safety. In December he was elected a delegate to congress in the place of Peyton Randolph, and he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The convention having, in June, 1776, reduced the number of delegates in congress from seven to five, Mr. Harrison and Mr. Braxton were not re-elected. According to Girardin,[663:A] Mr. Braxton's "Address on Government" was not universally relished, (it was indeed severely denounced, as has been seen,) and his popularity had been in some degree impaired by persons whose political indiscretions, though beyond his control, fatally reacted against him. He was, nevertheless, returned by the County of King William a member of the convention, and if he had fallen under a cloud of suspicion, it appears to have been soon dispersed, for, in October, 1776, the thanks of the convention were unanimously returned to Thomas Jefferson and Carter Braxton, for their ability, diligence, and integrity, as delegates in congress.

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