Richard Henry Lee - Portrait and Brief Bio

Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), from Virginia, was an aristocrat who participated in many key events during the American Revolution. 

He opposed the Stamp Act (in 1765), he was part of the committee appointing George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (in 1775) and he introduced the Motion which led to a Declaration of Indepdence from Britain (1776). 

Serving in the Continental Congress (1774-1780, 1784-1787), he tried to stop slaves from being imported into America. 

Although he was part of America's new national legislature, he did not trust a strong national government.  He feared that too much centralized power would have a bad impact on the rights and powers of individual states. 

When it came time to vote on a national constitution, he opposed its ratification.  In Lee's words:

To say that a bad government must be established for fear of anarchy is really saying that we should kill ourselves for fear of dying.

Credits

Portrait (oil on canvas) by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). 

Image, courtesy U.S. National Archives. 

Information, and quote, from the Library of Congress:  Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789.