Lee, Richard Bland

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Lee, Richard Bland

LEE, RICHARD BLAND. (1761–1827). Statesman. This member of the famous Lee family of Virginia, born at Leesylvania, was too young to play any part in the Revolutionary War. He represented Loudoun County in the House of Delegates from 1784 to 1788 and again in 1796, taking a strong Federalist stance. In 1789 he was elected to the first U.S. Congress, where he played a determining role in a major compromise. By changing his stand as an opponent to Hamilton's plan for federal assumption of state debt, Lee (and a fellow representative from Virginia, Alexander White) got Hamilton's consent to establishing the national capital on the Potomac. Lee left Congress in 1795 and lived on his farm until 1815, when he moved to the District of Columbia. There, he served as a commissioner of war claims and as a judge of the Orphans' Court.

SEE ALSO Assumption; Lee Family of Virginia.

                     revised by Frank E Grizzard Jr.