Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee said of the Sugar Act, Possibly this step of the mother country, though intended to oppress and keep us low, in order to secure our dependence, may be subversive of this end.

A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

Nonetheless, seven other men Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus Griffin all held the post at one time or another, before the Articles fell apart and we were forced to come up with the Constitution.

Chris Weigant: Our Forgotten "Presidents" Chris Weigant 2011

Nonetheless, seven other men Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus Griffin all held the post at one time or another, before the Articles fell apart and we were forced to come up with the Constitution.

Chris Weigant: Our Forgotten "Presidents" Chris Weigant 2011

It was hard to think there was no connection between the two “schisms,” and, in fact, soon after the Convention adjourned both Randolph and Mason had written Richard Henry Lee explaining why they had refused to sign the Constitution.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

The early days of the month brought snow, strong winds, and low temperatures, and the continued “uncommon badness of the winter,” as Richard Henry Lee described it, persisted for weeks.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Richard Henry Lee considered that position not just wrong but counterproductive.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Meanwhile, on the day after the Convention adjourned, Mason wrote Richard Henry Lee, an old ally in Virginia politics who was representing his home state at the Confederation Congress in New York, and probably enclosed another copy of his objections to the Constitution.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

The word “unanimously,” Richard Henry Lee explained to George Mason, referred only to the decision to transmit the Constitution and related documents to the states, but it was inserted “hoping to have it mistaken for an unanimous approbation” of the Constitution itself.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

The next day, September 27, Richard Henry Lee proposed a substitute motion.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Like Richard Henry Lee, he thought these amendments would “remove the obstacles to an effectual government” and make ratification more likely.67

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010