Arthur Lee

Background

Arthur Lee was born on December 20, 1740 in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. The son of Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee.

Education

Arthur Lee was educated at Eton, studied medicine at Edinburgh.

Career

Arthur Lee was admitted to the bar in 1775. During the decade preceding 1776, he was an impassioned propagandist for American rights. He was an intimate of John Wilkes, whom he aided in one of his London campaigns. At that time he had shown great ability as a pamphleteer, having published in London The Monitor (1768), seven essays previously printed in Virginia; The Political Detection: or the Treachery and Tyranny of Administration, both at Home and Abroad (1770), signed " Junius Americanus and An Appeal to the Justice and Interests of the People of Great Britain in the Present Disputes with America (1774), signed "An Old Member of Parliament. "

In December 1775 the Committee of Secret Correspondence of Congress chose him its European agent principally for the purpose of ascertaining the views of France, Spain, and other European countries regarding the war between the colonies and Great Britain.

In October 1776 he was appointed, upon the refusal of Jefferson, on the commission with Franklin and Silas Deane to negotiate a treaty of alliance, amity and commerce with France, and also to negotiate with other European governments. He believed that Deane, especially, and various scheming Frenchmen were reaping huge, dishonest profits at the expense of American patriot blood and treasure.

His letters to Congress, in which he expressed his suspicion of Deane's business integrity and criticized his accounts, resulted in Deane's recall; and other letters impaired the confidence of Congress in Franklin, of whom he was especially jealous. Lee thought that Franklin aided the plots by boudoirintrigues in Paris and pettifogging letters home. Lee found ready support from his brothers and their New England allies (especially John and Sam Adams), who were ready to believe the worst about Franklin.

In June 1777 he went to Berlin, where, as in Spain, he was not officially recognized.

Although he had little to do with the negotiations, he signed with Franklin and Deane in February 1778 the treaties between the United States and France.

Having become unpopular at the courts of France and Spain, Lee was recalled in 1779, and returned to the United States in September 1780.

With Oliver Wolcott and Richard Butler he negotiated a treaty with the Six Nations, signed at Fort Stanwix on the 22nd of October 1784, and with George Clark and Richard Butler a treaty with the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, signed at Ft. McIntosh on the 216t of January 1785.

Achievements

• Arthur Lee has been listed as a noteworthy Continental congressman, diplomatic agent by Marquis Who's Who.

Connections

Father:

Hon. Thomas Lee (1690–1750)

Brother:

Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734–1797)

Brother:

Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794)

Brother:

William Lee (1739–1795)