Richard Henry Lee places his Revolutionary Zeal on display, June 7, 1776, with three resolutions

Next year Americans will celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence that took place 250 years ago on July 4, 1776. Two of the 56 signers were brothers, Richard Henry Lee and Frances Lightfoot Lee, sons of a family of wealthy Virginians. Both were outspoken Patriots who opposed both the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. Richard Henry Lee was especially adamant about the colonies seeking independence from England and was quick to propose that Patriots in all the colonies begin to share their information about the pursuit of “liberty.”

Prior to the signing the Declaration of Independence an event happened on June 7 that summer that was an important prelude to the July 4 signings. Richard Henry Lee, known to be an eloquent speaker, delivered three resolutions to members of the Continental Congress. The first resolution spoke of the right of the Colonies to be a nation into themselves and not dependent upon the British Crown. The second said that the Colonies should have the right to form foreign alliances and the third resolution, implied that Colonies should establish their own form of government.

Richard Henry Lee, who was 43 years old at the time of his famous July 7, 1776 resolution, came from a line of military officers, diplomats, and legislators. His father served on the Governor's council and briefly as an interim governor of Virginia before his death in 1750. Lee spent most of his early life in Stratford, Virginia at the family home, Stratford Hall. To develop his political career, his father sent him around to neighboring planters with the intention for him to become associated with neighboring men of like prominence.

At 16, Lee left Virginia for Yorkshire, England, to complete his formal education. Both of his parents died in 1750. Three years later, after touring Europe, he returned to Virginia. In 1757, Lee was appointed justice of the peace of Westmoreland County and in 1758, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

An early advocate of independence, Lee became one of the first to promote the Committees of Correspondence, an underground network of communication among Patriot leaders in the 13 Colonies. In 1766, almost ten years before the Revolutionary War, Lee is credited with having authored the Westmoreland Resolution against enforcement of the British Stamp Act of 1765. In August 1774, Lee was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia along with his brother Frances Lightfoot Lee.

Gunpowder in Short Supply during Revolution

 The War for Independence began with shots fired at Lexington and Concord. Shots that required gunpowder, a substance that was in short supply for colonial militias in the 1770s.

When the revolution started, there was only one American gunpowder mill, the Frankford Mill in Pennsylvania. This mill was turning out a miniscule amount of gunpowder compared to what would be needed to wage a successful war.

Any gunpowder available was purchased, and rebels were somewhat successful in clandestine efforts to “acquire” powder stored in British powder magazines. But the amount was not enough to sustain an army in the field. If George Washington’s army was going to have any chance of victory, the colonies needed to step up production or import the needed gunpowder.

The American quartermasters had secured about 80,000 pounds of gunpowder, around 13,000 pounds which was taken when a British warship was boarded in South Carolina. Just over 3,000 pounds came from Bermuda, where some locals stole gunpowder from military stores, and traded it with revolutionaries. (Bermuda was a British colony and was prohibited from any interactions with American trading companies, but because it depended on food imports from the colonies, trading gunpowder was a way to keep trade with America open.)

This lack of gunpowder was just one of the major hurdles George Washington faced when he was named commander of the Continental Army in July 1775. By fall of that year, it was evident that the Continental Army needed more guns as well as gunpowder. Congress set up a secret committee to find sources from other countries for gunpowder and supplies. The committee sent a Connecticut merchant, Silas Deane (see below), to France to seek French, Dutch and Spanish rifles and cannon, plus clothing and supplies for Washington’s troops. The supplies would arrive via the West Indies. The most important part of this covert opereation was that France would provide the gunpowder the American Revolution soldiers so desperately needed.

By the end of 1777, France had smuggled about two million pounds of gunpowder and 60,000 guns into the colonies. Once France joined the war, they openly supplied powder and arms. France also sent ground troops to join the revolutionary forces, and the French navy fought the British at sea.

Silas Deane--The Nation’s First Secret Agent

The son of a farmer in Groton, Connecticut, Silas Deane served in the Continental Congress during 1774 and 1775. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin and Congress’s Committee on Secret Correspondence sent Deane to France to pose as a merchant needing to purchase various household goods. In truth, Deane was sent to solicit money and military assistance from the government of France. America needed clothing, arms, cannons, and a large quantity of ammunition to supply at least twenty-five thousand soldiers.

Under the cover of a shell company, Deane was successful in securing eight shiploads of military supplies. He also sought experienced soldiers to join the Patriots’ fight for independence--among them the Marquis de Lafayette, whom Deane commissioned as a major general.

Joined in France by Virginian Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and the two men were signatories to the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity in 1778. These two documents recognized the independence of the colonies.

Virginians Standing Up for Our Freedom

On July 4, 1776, members of the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. Among the 56 signers of this document were seven Virginians, Benjamin Harrison, George Wythe, Thomas Nelson, Thomas Jefferson, Frances Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, and Carter Braxton. These brave men knew the consequences of signing such a document could mean the lose of their fortunes, their honor and status in the colonies, and possibly their lives. But, because it was clear to these patriots that war with England was eminent, they bravely took the first steps that would help to establish a new nation.