THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF RICHARD HENRY LEE
A thesis Submitted by
Holly Eileen Munchoff Kendig
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
Tufts University October, 1970
ABSTRACT
As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Richard Henry Lee witnessed the arbitrary power of the royal governor, and consequently came to favor a mixed government in which the advantages of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy were blended. The first challenge to British governmental control, the Stamp Act crisis, caught Lee in the embarrassing position of having at first applied for the position of stamp agent and then changing his mind. As a result, most of his activity during that crisis was confined to dnfending himself. In 1768, with the news of the Townshend Acts, Lee urged the formation of intercolonial committees of correspondence, a suggestion which would not be followed until 1773, when Virginia responded indignantly to the Gaspee incident in Rhode Island. Despite his criticisms, Lee still felt a close attachment to Great Britain and hoped for a resolution of differences. His affection for the mother country did not last, however. The Boston Port Bill was the turning point, after which Lee was aligned more with the “radicals,” or those urging stronger action than was generally accepted.
The Port Bill also inspired the movement for a general congress, suggested by Lee and others. The Congress became a reality in 1774, with the gathering of delegates to the Continental Congress, including Lee from Virginia. As the differences with the British multiplied, the Congress turned increasingly to economic pressure to force England to redress colonial grievances and worked toward non-importation and non-consumption agreements. By 1776, actual conflict with the British was an established fact, and Lee was advocating independence and confederation. In fact, Lee proposed the resolution for independence in June, 1776, resolving that the colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. . . .” Lee was not on the committee that wrote the Declaration of Independence, however, because he left the Congress immediately for Virginia.
Although Lee had developed a dislike of power in government and a suspicion of the ambitions of men, which extended back as far as his experiences with Virginia's royal government, his fear of tyranny did not carry over to the Confederation, which he felt left little room for abuse of power. Although it was probably poor health that kept Lee from serving in the Congress from 1780–1784, he spent that time working for the Confederation by trying to secure an agreeable cession of Virginia's western lands. It was also during these years that he endeavored to defeat the proposed impost in the Virginia Assembly and worked to organize the state militia under the threat of British attack. Yet in time he came to see the need for strengthening the central government in some particulars.
Elected again to Congress in 1784, and subsequently to the presidency of that body, Lee grew more receptive to a stronger central government. Although he had become committed to a change in government by 1787, when the results of the Convention were made public he was less than pleased. In protest, Lee wrote two pamphlets and many private letters criticizing the Constitution. He was not irreconcilably opposed, however, for he was prepared to accept the Constitution provided it was amended. Nonetheless, he was very disturbed about the pressure to adopt the new government without delay and sought a longer process of ratification to give the people time to evaluate the document. Nor did he accept all of the Federalist arguments regarding the need for a new government, particularly those which blamed the Confederation for what he felt were post-war problems. Many of Lee's criticisms of the Constitution centered around his fear of oligarchy. In particular, he questioned the small representation in the proposed House of Representatives, maintaining it would be dominated by the natural aristocracy. He placed more faith in state governments, considering them to be closer to the people and their wishes. Lee also worried about the abuse of power in government, and thus felt strongly that a bill of rights was imperative. His specific suggestions for a bill of rights were influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Unlike the extreme wing of Antifederalists who demanded amendments before adoption, Lee was open to compromise with regard to ratification. The federalists were able to secure adoption without compromise, however, and many Antifederalists lost influence. Yet there was still an Antifederalist majority in the Virginia Assembly, which elected Lee to the U.S. Senate. Amendments to the Constitution after ratification had been promised by many Federalists, and James Madison worked to keep this promise. He introduced amendements into the House of representatives in the first Congress, which were eventually approved by both houses. Although Lee was quite disillusioned with the amendments eventually passed, he seemed relatively satisfied with the new government.
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The Political Thought of Richard Henry Lee By Holly Eileen Munchoff Kendig
[Notes]
[1] Details on Lee's early family life and political career from Paul P. Hoffman, ed., and John L. Molyneaux, asst. ed., The Lee Family Papers, 1742–1795 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Library, 1966), 1, pp. 11–15 (microfilm copy), and Oliver P. Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee (Morgantown, W.Va.: West Virginia University Library, 1967), 4–15. [2] Richard Henry Lee to Arthur Lee, December 20, 1766, Letters of Richard Henry Lee, I, James C. Ballagh, ed. (2 vols.; New York: Macmillian, 1914), 19. [3] Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic 1776–1787 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1969), 198. [4] Ibid., 201, 204, 96. [5] Lee to the Editor of the Virginia Gazette, July 25, 1776, Letters, 1, 16–17. [6] Merrill Jensen, The Founding of a Nation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), 100, 103–04. [7] Edmund S. Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univeristy of North Carolina Press, 1953), 92–95. [8] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 103–04. [9] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 48–49. [10] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 303–04. [11] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 48. [12] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 303. [13] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 48–49. [14] Lee to John Dickinson, July 25, 1768, Letters, I, 29. [15] Lee to John Dickinson, November 26, 1768, ibid., I, 30–32. [16] Lee to Lord Shelburne, May 31, 1769, Letters, I, 37. [17] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 50–51. [18] Ibid., 53. [19] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 315. [20] Ibid., 430. [21] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 430. [22] Ibid., 430; and Lee to John Dickinson, April 4, 1773, Letters, I, 83–84. [23] Jenson, The Founding of a Nation, 430. [24] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 57; and Lee to Samuel Adams, June 23, 1774, Letters, I, 111. [25] Lee to Samuel Adams, June 23, 1774, Letters, I, 111. [26] Edmund C. Burnett, The Continental Congress (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1964), 19. [27] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 64–65. [28] Ibid., 72–75; Worthington C. Ford, et. al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington, D.C., 1904–1938), I, note 2, 81. [29] Ford, et. al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, I, 90, 103–05; Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 70–71. [30] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 83. [31] Ford, et. al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, II, 127, 157, 162. [32] Ibids., II, 170–71; Lee, “Letter of Congress to the Lord Mayor of London,” July 8, 1775, Letters, I, 141–42. [33] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 58. [34] Ibid., 68. [35] Ibid., 68. [36] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 619. [37] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 87. [38] Ibid., 92, 82. [39] Jensen, The Founding of a Nation, 602–03. [40] Lee to Patrick Henry, April 20, 1776, Letters, I, 176–79; Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 92–93. [41] Lee to Landon Carter, June 2, 1776, Letters, I, 198. [42] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 95. [43] Ibid., 97. [44] Ibid., 98. [45] Lee to [Edmund Pendleton], May 12, 1776, Letters, I, 191. [46] Lee to [George Mason], June 9, 1779, ibid., II, 65. [47] Ibid., 65. [48] Lee to Samuel Adams, July 12, 1777, Letters, I. 308. [49] Merrill Jensen, The Articles of Confederation (Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1940), 110–11. [50] Lee to Samuel Adams, July 12, 1777, Letters, I, 308. [51] Lee to [George tashington], February 27, 1777, ibid., I, 266. [52] Lee to [Thomas Jefferson], April 29, 1777, ibid., I, 286. [53] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 111–112. [54] Lee to Editor of the Pennsylvania Packet, August 24, 1779, Letters, II, 132. [55] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 115. [56] Ibid., 134. [57] Ibid., 139–43. [58] Lee to [General William Whipple], August 8, 1779, Letters, II, 106; Lee to Henry Laurens, August 21, 1779, ibid., II, 132; Lee to Colonel Chilton, July 18, 1780, ibid., II, 189; Lee to the Commander in Chief of the Amies of the United States [George Washington], September 17, 1781, ibid., II, 253; Lee to [the Governor of Virginia] [Benjamin Harrison], July 9, 1782, ibid., II, 273. [59] Lee to [James Monroe], January 5, 1784, ibid., II, 287. [60] Lee to [the Governor of Virginia] [Thomas Nelson], October 28, 1781, ibid., II, 263–64; and Lee to Colonel [William] Davies, January 29, 1782, ibid., II, 268. [61] Lee to Samuel Adams, June 18, 1779, ibid., II, 73. [62] Lee to [General George Washington], June 12, 1781, ibid., II, 233; and Lee to the Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States [George Washington], September 17, 1781, ibid., II, 253. [63] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 145. [64] Lee to [Samuel Adams], September 10, 1780, Letters, II, 201. [65] Ford, et. al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, XXV, 560–62. [66] Lee to Samuel Adams, February 5, 1781, Letters, II, 214. [67] Joan C. F. Kimball, “The Northwest Land Cessions 1779–1786” (unpublished Master's Thesis, Tufts University, 1969), 128–36. [68] Lee to [R. Wormly Carter], June 3, 1733, Letters, II, 282. [69] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 146. [70] Lee to [General William Whipple], July 1, 1783, Letters, II, 284. [71] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 157. [72] Lee to [James Madison], November 26, 1784, Letters, II, 307; see also Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 165. [73] Lee to [Samuel Adams], March 14, 1785, Letters, II, 343–44. [74] Lee to George Mason, May 15, 1787, Letters, II, 419–20. [75] Ibid., 422. [76] Ibid., 421. [77] Ibid., 420–21. [78] Lee to [John Adams], Septernber 5, 1787, Letters, II, 434. [79] Lee to [Francis Lightfoot Lee], July 14, 1787, ibid., II, 424. [80] Lee to [General George Washington], July 15, 1787, ibid., II, 425. [81] Lee to [Colonel Henry? Lee], July 30, 1787, ibid., II, 430. [82] Lee to George Mason, May 15, 1787, ibid., II, 421. [83] Lee to [the Governor of Virginia] [Edmund Randolph], March 26, 1787, ibid., II, 415. [84] Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, n.p. n.d.; the five letters arc separately dated October 8–13, 1787. [85] Forrest McDonald, Introduction to Empire and Nation (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice?Hall, 1962), xv. [86] Lee to George Mason, October 1, 1787, Letters, II, 439. [87] Lee, Letter V, October 13, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 127. [88] Lee to George Mason, October 1, 1787, Letters, II, 439. [89] Lee, Letter VI, December 25, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 133. [90] Lee, Letter I, October 8, 1787, ibid., 90. [91] Ibid., 89. [92] Lee, Letter IX, January 4, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1962), 80. [93] Lee, Letter I, October 8, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 92. [94] Lee, Letter X, January 7, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 82–84. [95] Lee, Letter II, October. 9, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 102. [96] Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, 33, The Federalist, edited by Benjamin Fletcher Wright (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1961), [Hamilton], 240. [97] Lee to George Mason, October 1, 1787, Letters, II, 438. [98] Reprinted in Letters, II, 442–44. [99] Lee to George Mason, October 1, 1787, Letters, II, 438–39. [100] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, ibid., II, 450–51. [101] Lee, Letter V, October 13, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 128–29. [102] Ibid., 129–30. [103] Lee, Letter VI, December 25, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 134. [104] Lee, Letter IX, January 4, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 74–75. [105] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, Letters, II, 451. [106] Lee, Letter I, October 8, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 91. [107] Ibid., 93. [108] Ibid., 91. [109] Lee, Letter XVII, January 23, 1788, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 165–66. [110] Merrill Jensen, The New Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 1950), 347–48. [111] Lee, Letter VIII, January 3, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 69. [112] Lee, Letter IX, January 4, 1788, ibid., 80. [113] Hamilton, Madison and Jay, 10, The Federalist, 135. [114] This view is explicated by Cecelia M. Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith: The Anti-Federalists on the Nature of Representative Government,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, XII, No. 1 (January, 1955), 6. [115] Lee, Letter II, October 9, 1787, Letters fron the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 99–100, 102. [116] Lee, Letter I, October 8, 1787, ibid., 95. [117] Lee, Letter IV, October 12, 1787, ibid., 125. [118] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, Letters, II, 452. [119] Lee, Letter IV, October 12, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 125. [120] Lee, Letter VII, December 31, 1787, ibid., 146–47. [121] Ibid., 147. [122] Lee, Letter III, October 10, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 104. [123] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, Letters, II, 452. [124] Lee, Letter VII, December 31, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 148. [125] Hamilton, Madison and Jay, 57, The Federalist [Madison], 386; and 58, ibid. [Madison], 388. [126] Lee to Samuel Adams, October 5, 1787, Letters, II, 446. [127] Lee, Letter IX, January 4, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 76–77. [128] Lee, Letter X, January 7, 1788, ibid., 85. [129] Hamilton, Madison and Jay, 58, The Federalist, 392. [130] Lee, Letter VII, December 31, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 146. [131] Ibid., 147. [132] Marquis Caesar Bonesane Beccaria, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, cited in Lee, ibid., 145–46. [133] Lee, Letter VII, December 31, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 149. [134] Hamilton, Madison and Jay, 58, The Federalist, 392. [135] Lee, Letter VII, December 31, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 149. [136] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, Letters, II, 454. [137] Lee, Letter III, October 10, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 105. [138] Ibid., 105. [139] Lee, Letter XI, January 10, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 92–93, 96–97. [140] Lee to [Samuel Adams], October 5, l787, Letters, II, 445. [141] Lee, Letter III, October 10, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 108–09. [142] Lee, Letter XI, January 10, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 109. [143] Lee, Letter III, October 19, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 109–10. [144] Ibid., 110–12, 114. [145] Lee, Letter X, January 7, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 88. [146] Lee, Letter IV, October 12, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 119. [147] Lee to [Samuel Adams], October 5, 1787, Letters, II, 445. [148] Lee, Letter IV, October 12, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 120. [149] Lee, Letter XIV, January 17, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 126. [150] Ibid., 123–24. [151] Lee, Letters, II, note 1, 142–43. [152] Max Farrand, The Framing of the Constitution of the United States (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1913), 70. [153] Henry Barrett Learned, The President's Cabinet (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912), 84–85. [154] James Madison, Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, edited by Gaillard Hunt and James B. Scott (New York: Oxford University Press, 1920), 428–29, 448–49, 531–32, 50. [155] U.S. Constitution, Art.2, sec.2. [156] Lee, Letter XV, January 18, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 133. [157] Lee, Letter III, October 10, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 107. [158] Ibid., 115–16. [159] Lee, Letter XV, January 18, 1788, An Additional Number of Letters, 132. [160] Lee to [Edmund] Pendleton, May 22, 1788, Letters, II, 470–71. [161] Lee to [General George Washington], October 11, 1787, ibid., II, 449. [162] Lee, Letter IV, October 12, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 121. [163] Ibid., 123. [164] Lee to [Samuel Adams], October 27, 1787, Letters, II, 457; Charles Page Smith, James Wilson (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1956), 265; Hamilton, Madison and Jay, 841, The Federalist, 535. [165] Lee, Letter XVI, January 20, 1788, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 152–53. [166] Ibid., 159–60. [167] Suggested amendments reprinted in Letters, II, note 1, 442–44. [168] Lee, Letter VI, December 25, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican in Empire and Nation, 140. [169] Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 19. Miss Kenyon comments on this characteristic of Antifederalists, but does not include Lee in her examples. [170] Madison's proposed bill of rights can be found in the Annals of Congress, 1 Cong., 1 Sess., 434–35. [171] Forrest McDonald, Introduction to Empire and Nation, xv. [172] Although included in the bill of rights proposed by Madison, these amendments were net necessarily incorporated into the final draft of the Hill of Rights. [173] For a calendar of amendments to the Constitution proposed by state ratifying conventions, see The Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the United States During the First Century of Its History by Herman V. Ames, in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1896, II, 307–11. [174] Lee to [General George Washington], October 11, 1787, Letters, II, 449–50. [175] Lee to [Edmund] Pendleton, May 22, 1788, ibid., 470–73. [176] Lee to General John Lamb, Jure 27, 1788, ibid., II, 475; also see Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 180. [177] Robert Allen Rutland, The Birth of the Bill of Rights 1776–1791 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1955), 174. [178] Chitwood, Richard Henry Lee, 183. [179] Lee to Patrick Henry, May 28, 1789, Letters, II, 487; and Rutland, Birth of the Bill of Rights, 199. [180] Lee to [Francis Lightfoot Lee], September 13, 1789, Letters, II, 500. [181] Lee to Richard Bland Lee, February 5, 1794, ibid., II, 568. [182] Lee to [Thomas Lee Shippen], May 8, 1790, ibid., II, 510; Lee to Patrick Henry, June 10, 1790, ibid., II, 522–23; Lee to [James Monroe], January 15, 1791, ibid., II, 541. [183] Lee to the Speaker of the House of Delegates [of Virginia], October 8, 1792, ibid., II, 50–51. [184] Hoffman and Mo1yneaux, eds., The Lee Family Papers, 1742–1795, 1, p.18 (microfilm copy). [185] This list of Antifederalists favoring stronger government can be found in Jackson T. Main, The Antifederalists (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), 113, but curiously, Lee himself was omitted. [186] Ibid., 132; Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 21, 13–15, 22, 6; Main, The Antifederalists, 129. Neither Kenyon nor Main mentions Lee specifically in any of these instances or in most of those to be discussed. [187] Main, The Antifederalists, 120–23, 158–59; Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 18–19 [188] Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 10–11, 28; Main, The Antifederalists, 135. [189] Main, The Antifederalists, 135, 137, 139; Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 26–27. [190] Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 15; Main, The Antifederalists, 149–50, 40; Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 8. [191] Lee to [James Madison], August 11, 1785, Letters, II, 383; Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, ibid., II, 454–55. [192] Lee to George Mason, May 7, 1788, ibid., II, 468–69. [193] Main, The Antifederalists, 110. [194] Ibid., 140–41. [195] Ibid., 176–77, 180–81; Although Main hedged on whether Lee belonged to this wing of Antifederalists, the evidence seems to confirm he definitely was. This distinction was also made by Rutland, The Birth of the Bill of Rights, 119, but he, too, omitted Lee, mentioning only George Mason and Elbridge Gerry. [196] Main, The Antifederalists, 172–73. [197] Kenyon, “Men of Little Faith,” 33, 29. [198] Ibid., 41. [199] Lee to [the] Governor [of Virginia] [Edmund] Randolph, October 16, 1787, Letters, II, 450–51. [200] Rutland, Birth of the Bill of Rights, 165–66. [201] Robert Allen Rutland, The Ordeal of the Constitution (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 190, 247, 189–90. [202] Rutland, Birth of the Bill of Rights, 191. [203] Lee, Letter VI, December 25, 1787, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Rerublican in Empire and Nation, 135–36. [204] Rutland, Birth of the Bill of Rights, 176. [205] Main, The Antifederalists, note 8, 223. [206] Lee to Thomas Lee Shippen, February 12, 1794, Letters, II, 576.
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