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Richard Henry Lee

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Politician

The Resume

    (January 20, 1732-June 19, 1794)
    Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia
    Delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-79,1784-85,1787)
    President of the Second Continental Congress (1784-85)
    US Senator from Virginia (1789-92)
    Best known for Lee’s Resolution at the Second Continental Congress (June 7, 1776): ‘That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.’

Why he might be annoying:

    He always wore a black silk glove after a hunting accident caused him to lose four fingers on his left hand.
    He became a leader of Virginian opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, but his initial response had been to ask to be considered for the job of collecting the new tax.
    Although Lee’s Resolution inspired the Continental Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence, he was absent when the Congress voted to officially adopt the Declaration of Independence.
    He refused to attend the Constitutional Convention, and was led the opposition to the Constitution in Virginia.
    He was appointed one of Virginia’s first two Senators under the Constitution that he had opposed.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Four of his children died in infancy.
    As a member of Virginia’s House of Burgess, his first proposed bill would ‘lay so heavy a duty on the importation of slaves as to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia.’ (1759)
    He returned to the Continental Congress in time for the signing of the Declaration of Independence (August 2, 1776).
    As a colonel in the state militia, he defeated a British force at the Battle of Stratford Landing (April, 1781).
    He played an important role in getting the Bill of Rights adopted to limit the powers of the US government.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 15 Votes: 13.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying