Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794) was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence, which Lee signed. He also served a one-year term as the President of the Continental Congress, and was a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as one of the first Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate. He was also related to Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Read more about Richard Henry Lee:  Early Life, Early Career, American Revolution, Quotes, Political Offices, Marriages and Children, Ancestry, Legacy, Representations in Fiction

Famous quotes containing the words richard, henry and/or lee:

    Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
    With no less terror than the elements
    Of fire and water, when their thundering shock
    At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Go, grandly borne, with such a train
    As greatest kings might die to gain.
    The just, the wise, the brave,
    Attend thee to the grave.
    —Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903)

    Out of me unworthy and unknown
    The vibrations of deathless music;
    —Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)