Richard Henry Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 20, 1732. He was the oldest of four boys and the seventh of eleventh children. His brothers were Frances Lightfoot Lee, William Lee, and Arthur Lee.

Richard Henry Lee was educated at a private school at Wakefield in Yorkshire, England. He returned home after schooling in 1751.

In 1757 Richard Henry Lee was elected Justice of the Peace. He got that position for wanting peace between the British and the Americans.

Richard was elected for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758. There he served for seventeen years. In 1774, Richard Henry Lee was elected to the Continental Congress. He served for five years there. He was one of the best speakers in congress.

On June 7, 1776, he made his famous proposal to congress: "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." He made the first move toward independence from Great Britain. Some of the delegates were still a little queasy about declaring independence from Great Britain: it was one of the most powerful countries at that time. The colonists didn't think they could win a war against such a powerful country, so the congressmen decided to write a document declaring their independence from Britain. The document had to state reasons why they wanted to be independent. They choose five people to write this paper: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the declaration.

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On July 1, 1776, there was a big debate in congress. Nine colonies voted for independence. South Carolina and Pennsylvania were against independence. Delaware's delegates were stuck in a tie. On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Both Richard Henry Lee and his brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee, signed the Declaration.

In 1783, Richard Henry Lee was elected President of Congress. He opposed the federal constitution, because he favored the rights of states. He was also elected the first state Senator for Virginia. Later on, he returned home due to illness, and soon after died at the age of sixty-three in 1795.

Richard Henry Lee was an influential man. Other people thought he was a great man, too, because people in Virginia named a town after him and the whole Lee family. The town is called Leesburg, Virginia.