Richard Henry Lee: The ‘Cicero’ of the American Revolution

The great political orator paved the way for the country’s founding document.

Richard Henry Lee reading the original document of the Declaration of Independence, on the Fourth of July 1876, at Philadelphia. Library of Congress. Public Domain

Of the 56 delegates who signed the Declaration of Independence, two were brothers. Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee both represented Virginia in the Continental Congress, but it was Richard as the older of the two who introduced the formal resolution that led to the Declaration of Independence.

The Lee Resolution, also known as “The Resolution for Independence,” was introduced on June 7, 1776. The controversial resolution proposed the colonies formally break from England.