As a reminder, these history episodes are provided ad-free to paid subscribers. If you would like to watch it in full without subscribing, you can listen on YouTube or Spotify! If you would like to read it, the (rough) transcript, with timestamps, is provided below the paywall.
First of the Founding Fathers to openly call for independence, the first to call for union of the states, and the first to call for a bill of rights, Richard Henry Lee was one of the greatest Founding Fathers and is the Founder most remarkable for the number of “firsts” to his name.
It was also Richard Henry Lee who authored the Westmoreland Resolves that led the field in organized and armed resistance to Britain, introduced the idea of Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, was first chosen by Virginia to attend the First Continental Congress, and who masterminded a slew of political and diplomatic victories that ensured Washington’s ultimate victory in the Revolutionary War. He held Congress together when Philadelphia was captured, saved Stratford Hall from British raiders by leading the militia, organized the West by creating the law that became the Northwest Ordinance, and ensured the Bill of Rights became law.
He was a great man, yet now he is the Forgotten Founding Father, the man who ought be remembered but is not. So we remember him, this is his story
CHAPTERS:
0:00 America’s First Founding Father
7:27 Richard Henry Lee’s Life at Chantilly on the Potomac
19:13 Richard Henry Lee Enters Virginia Politics
25:00 The Architect of Resistance to the Stamp Act
29:06 Creator of the Committees of Correspondence
33:20 Richard Henry Lee Declares Independence
37:48 War, Raids, and Congress
39:37 A Leader During Confederation, Shaper of the West
41:19 Anti-Federalist Leader?
44:03 Senator and Bill of Rights Champion
45:03 Retirement and Disillusionment
49:50 Final Years at Chantilly on the Potomoac
Sources Referenced in this Episode:
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks!
Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9
Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF
Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe
Maier, Pauline: The Old Revolutionaries, https://amzn.to/3RdsNEU
McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4
Chitwood, Oliver Perry: Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4ghdkxM
Unger, Harlow Giles: First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4oYRYaB
Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2
Evans, Emory G.: A “Topping People”: The Rise and Decline of Virginia’s Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK
Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw
Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF
Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN
Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4
Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR
Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z
Transcript
