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Philadelphia. He was member of the committees for stating the rights of the colonies, for enforcing commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, and for preparing suitable addresses to the king and to the colonies— Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Sco- tia, Georgia, and the Floridas — that had not sent delegates to the congress. In the 2d congress he drew up the address to the people of Great Britain, which, along with a last petition to the king, was carried over to London by Richard Penn in August, 1775. About this time Mr. Lee was chosen lieutenant of Westmoreland county, an office which, after the analogy of the lord-lieu- tenancy of a county in England, gave him com- mand of the militia ; hence he is often addressed or described, in writings of the time, as " Colonel Lee." For more than a year he had openly and warmly advocated a declaration of independence ; and after the Virginia convention, 17 May, 1776, had instructed its delegates in congress to propose such a measure, it was Lee who took the foremost part. On 7 June he moved " that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; and that all political connec- tion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The motion was seconded by John Adams. Congress deferred action for three weeks, in order that more definite instructions might be received from the middle colonies. During the interval Mr. Lee was called home by the illness of his wife, so that Mr. Jefferson was appointed in his place as chairman of the committee for preparing a draft of the pro- posed declaration. For the same reason, the task of defending the motion, when taken up for dis- cussion, fell mainly upon John Adams, who had seconded it. During the next four years Mr. Lee served on more than a hundred committees, and his labors in congress were so arduous as to injure his health, so that he was several times obliged to go home and devote himself to recruiting his strength. In 1780-'2 he did not take his seat in congress, inasmuch as the affairs of Virginia seemed to require his presence in the assembly of that state. Besides the business of defence against the British army then operating in the southern states, two questions of great importance were then debated in Virginia. The one related to the propriety of making a depreciated paper currency a legal tender for debts, the other was brought up by a proposal to repudiate all debts to British merchants contracted by citizens of Virginia be- fore the beginning of the war. In these debates Mr Lee took strong ground against paper money, and he vehemently condemned the repudiation of debts, declaring that it were better to be " the honest slaves of Great Britain than to become dis- honest freemen." After the peace he devoted much time to considering the best method of funding the public debt of the state, and providing for the revival of public credit. On 30 Nov., 1784, he was chosen president of the Continental con- gress. At the end of the presidential term of one year he returned to Virginia, but in 1787 was sent again to the congress. He was not a member of the convention at Philadelphia which in the summer of that year framed our Federal constitution ; and when the new constitution was reported to con- gress, he earnestly opposed its adoption. He thought it provided for a consolidated national power that would ultimately destroy the state governments and end in a centralized despotism. His correspondence at this time with Samuel Adams, who was inclined to entertain the same fears, is very instructive. These misgivings were shared by Patrick Henry and many other patriotic Virginians, and the first senators elected by their state were Lee and Grayson, in opposition to two Federalists, one. of whom was James Madison, who had been foremost in the constructive work of the great convention. As senator, Mr. Lee proposed the tenth amendment to the constitution in these words: " The powers not delegated bv the consti- tution to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively." The amendment, as adopted, substituted the word " granted " for " delegated," and added at the end the words " or to the people." Though at first an Anti-Federalist, Mr. Lee came to be a warm sup- porter of Washington's administration, and es- pecially approved of his course in the affair of "citizen" Genet. In 1792 he was obliged by fail- ing health to resign his seat in the senate and retire to his estate at Chantilly, where he spent the last two years of his life.

Mr. Lee was tall and graceful in person and striking in feature. His voice was clear and rich, and his oratory impressive. He did not waste time in rhetoric, but spoke briefly and to the point. His ideas were so lucid and his expression so forcible that when he sat down after a few weighty words it used to seem as if there were no more to be said on the subject. His capacity for work was great, though sometimes limited by poor health ; as Dr. Rush said, "His mind was like a sword toe large for its scabbard." He was twice married, and left, by his first wife, a Miss Aylett, two sons and two daughters ; by his second, a Miss Pinkard. two daughters. His life has been written by his grandson, Richard Henry Lee, of Leesburg, Va., "Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee, and his Correspondence" (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1825). See also Bishop Meade's "Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia," vol. ii., pp. 135-143. — Francis Lightfoot, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Stratford. Westmoreland co., Va., 14 Oct., 1734 ; d. in Richmond, Va., 3 April, 1797, was fourth son of Thomas Lee. He was ed- ucated at home, having for tutor a Scotch clergy- man named Craig. In 1705 he was elected to the house of bur- gesses for Lou- don county. In 1772 he married Rebecca, daugh- ter of Col. John Tayloe, of Rich- mondcounty,and established his residence in that

county, which he

was forthwith chosen to represent in the house of burgesses. He was elected delegate to the Continental congress, 15 Aug., 1775, on the resignation of Col. Bland, and was re-elected in the three following years. He signed the Declaration of Independence, and was a member of the committee that drew up the articles of confederation. He rendered good service in the debates on the Newfoundland fisheries and the navigation of the Mississippi, insisting that no peace should be made with Great Britain unless she conceded the American demands upon both these points. In the spring of 1779 he retired from congress, and,