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Artwork for The Old World with Will Tanner
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The Old World with Will Tanner

Will Tanner

Life Before Liberalism

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  • 21 episodes
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  • English

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  • Wednesday · 49 min

    Young Robert E Lee

    This is the story of how Robert E Lee was forged into the Marble Man of legend while still a young man, showing how his early life in Alexandria after his mother and father lost Stratford trained him in excellence and taught him to use his good qualities to great effect. From there, he then got an appointment to West Point through exercising personal connections, and became the sterling model of the perfect cadet while remaining beloved by his fellows. Ultimately, his graduation triumph was marred by the death of his mother, the woman whose diligence and patient cultivation of virtue had turned him into the man he became. This is the story of Robert E Lee's early life, and the foundations of his character. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/young-robert-e-lee-the-early-life Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, in the decaying Stratford Hall, as his father, Light Horse Harry Lee, faced financial collapse. His mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee, was ill and deeply distressed by the pregnancy, but the newborn Robert became her steady companion and source of comfort. After only a few years at Stratford, the family moved to Alexandria in the wake of Harry Lee's arrest and release from debtor's prison. There, Robert grew up in the shadow of George Washington's memory and under the care of his mother while his father ultimately abandoned the family. As his mother's health worsened, Robert took on household responsibilities and cared for her. He also developed into a strong, active boy and received a rigorous education through local academies and family connections. At Alexandria Academy, he studied advanced mathematics and classical languages, and his teachers noted his diligence and morality. With no inheritance and little money for further schooling, he decided on West Point as the path that could provide both education and a career. Lee won his appointment to the United States Military Academy after visiting the War Department in person and gathering recommendations from family allies. At West Point, he endured the harsh discipline of the academy without receiving a single demerit, graduating second in his class, first in several military subjects, and with a positive cash balance. The episode ends with his return to Virginia after graduation, when he found his mother dying at Ravensworth. He spent her final weeks as her nurse, and her death in July 1829 marked the close of the formative chapter that, the episode argues, made Robert E. Lee the man he became. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Marble Man's Origins 4:02 Stratford Hall's Fall 10:39 Robert E Lee's Alexandria Childhood 24:17 Training Young Robert E Lee 33:13 Lee's Admission to West Point 36:31 The Marble Man, the Perfect Cadet 43:17 Lee Graduates West Point, and Loses His Mother 47:33 Lee's Character Forged Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46lDf14 Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sanborn, Margaret, Robert E. Lee: A Portrait, https://amzn.to/3SA6EkN Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46qVL8c Boston Public Library, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

  • August 22 · 43 min

    How Robert E. Lee's Mother Forged the Marble Man | Anne Hill Carter Lee

    This episode is about Anne Hill Carter Lee, the mother of Robert E. Lee, and how her life shaped his character. While only a few letters of hers and one portrait of her survive, her son repeatedly said he owed everything to her. Robert E. Lee's life of duty, self-command, thrift, piety, and quiet resignation all came from Anne rather than from Light Horse Harry, and so we can thank her for forging the Marble Man, as explained in this show. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/how-robert-e-lees-mother-forged-the Check out our sponsor, the Classical Society, here, and tell them that Will sent you: https://theclassicalsociety.com/ Anne was born into privilege at Shirley Plantation as a daughter of Charles Carter, one of the richest men in Virginia. She received a refined education in literature, French, music, and Anglican devotion, and was her father's favorite. Her life changed for the worse when she married Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee in 1793, after watching him court her cousin Maria Farley first. Harry's financial troubles, debts, and unfaithfulness quickly ruined the marriage Anne had hoped would be happy. After the marriage, Anne lived through years of neglect, isolation, and worsening poverty at Stratford Hall. Harry's speculation and debts pushed the family toward ruin, while Anne remained with him and kept her unhappiness private. Her father later protected her inheritance through a trust, so Harry could not take it. Even so, the household became increasingly desperate, with creditors, arrest warrants, and locked doors turning Stratford into a chilly hell. Anne's health declined, but she focused on raising her children, especially Robert. In Alexandria, after the family left Stratford, she created a frugal household and taught Robert to manage money carefully, avoid debt, control his emotions, and submit to duty. He became her nurse and companion as her illness worsened, and she supported his path to West Point before dying at Ravensworth in 1829. Robert and his incredible character were the living result of her sacrifice, as he reflected on for his whole life. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Robert's Life, Anne's Legacy 2:16 The Heiress of Shirley Plantation 6:03 Anne's Marriage to Harry Lee 17:02 The Winter of Ruin, Birth of Robert 22:16 A New Start in Alexandria 25:25 Robert and Anne's Deep Relationship 30:10 Robert's Character and Sense of Duty 37:43 Anne's Last Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Boston Public Library, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

  • August 19 · 40 min

    Black-Horse Harry Lee: The Scandal That Lost Stratford and Disgraced a Dynasty

    This is the tragic story of Henry Lee IV, known to history as Black Horse Harry Lee. Most influential as a friend and ally of Andrew Jackson's, but most infamous for a scandal that shocked the Virginia gentry to its core, Henry went from being a promising young man to the disgrace of Virginia in the wake of a great tragedy that shook his family and Stratford Hall to its core. Listen Ad Free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/black-horse-harry-lee-the-scandal The son of Light Horse Harry Lee and heir to Stratford Hall, Henry began as a promising young man, educated at Washington College and the College of William and Mary. He served with distinction as a major in the War of 1812, and inherited a family estate in deep financial trouble, thanks to Light Horse Harry's debts and sales. Stratford's survival initially depended on a trust arranged by Henry's mother, Matilda Lee, which protected the property for her children. When Henry came of age, he took control of the estate and later married Anne Robinson McCarty, who brought a large fortune in land, bank stock, and other assets. Her money restored Stratford Hall, but the marriage also brought Anne's younger sister, Betsy McCarty, into Henry's household as his legal ward. After the birth of Henry and Anne's daughter Margaret, the household seemed settled, but in 1820 the child died in a fall down the stone steps at Stratford Hall. Anne was overwhelmed by grief and became dependent on laudanum. In that strained household, Henry formed a close relationship with Betsy McCarty, and the two began an affair that led to her pregnancy. The scandal became public, and Henry was disgraced. Disgraced Henry then faced ruin over the money he had taken from Betsy's estate. He tried to escape the consequences through a failed scheme involving Dr. Robert Mayo and a proposed marriage to Betsy, but the courts moved against him and Stratford Hall was sold in 1822. Henry and Anne left Virginia impoverished, later living in Washington, D.C. and surviving on limited means. Henry then rebuilt his career through writing, becoming a political ghostwriter for Andrew Jackson and helping with campaign material and Jackson's first inaugural address. Jackson named him consul general to Algiers, but the Senate rejected the appointment after John Tyler exposed the Stratford scandal. Henry left for Europe in disgrace, lived in poverty in Paris, and spent his final years writing a biography of Napoleon. He died there in 1837 in an unmarked grave, while Anne died three years later. The episode ends by linking Henry's downfall to the severe self-discipline and sense of duty that shaped Robert E. Lee's later life. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia's Fallen Heir 2:49 Stratford's Ruin Begins 6:38 Anne's Fortune Restores Stratford 10:01 Grief Turns to Scandal 19:39 A Desperate Cover-Up 23:13 Stratford Is Lost 25:53 A Ghostwriter for Jackson 30:42 Senate Rejection in Paris 32:40 Exile and Napoleon 36:29 Robert E. Lee's Burden Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX

  • August 15 · 1 hr 7 min

    The Swamp Fox: Francis Marion's Partisan War Alongside Light Horse Harry Lee

    This is the story of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of Southern Campaign fame, whose partisans worked with Light Horse Harry Lee and Lee's Legion to cut off Lord Cornwallis from his bases of Loyalist support and supply, which provided a substantial contribution to Patriot victory in the broader Southern campaign of the American Revolution. This is a discussion between Will and Kaiser; they discuss the life of Francis Marion, his tactics for defeating the British, his leadership style, and the general progression of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Before he was the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion was a planter of modest wealth and Huguenot descent who gained military experience in the Anglo-Cherokee War during the French and Indian War. He was a cautious, practical leader who fought alongside his men, preferred surprise attacks and sabotage, and was not flamboyant in dress or manner aside from his distinctive hat and coat. In the early Revolutionary War, Marion fought at the Battle of Sullivan's Island, and then witnessed the collapse of the Southern Continental Army after Charleston and Camden. Marion became a partisan leader after these defeats, when the British tried to use pardons and loyalty oaths to win support, but instead angered many local men and helped push them toward Marion's brigade. Marion's partisan tactics consisted of small raids, ambushes, attacks on outposts, and operations against supply lines and bridges. Marion primarily fought Loyalist forces, operated with very limited equipment, and earned the nickname "Swamp Fox" after Tarleton's pursuit failed. Finally, the interview covers Marion's cooperation with Light Horse Harry Lee and Daniel Morgan under Nathanael Greene, with a focus on joint raids, the use of improvised siege tactics, and the Battle of Cowpens, where Morgan's forces destroyed Tarleton's legion. The episode closes with reflections on the strategic importance of the Southern campaign and Marion's place in it. Find Kaiser here: https://substack.com/@kaiserloengramm Listen to the episode on Harry Lee's Life here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/cavalier-of-the-american-revolution CHAPTERS: 0:00 Francis Marion: Southern Planter, Southern Warrior 5:13 Marion the Cherokee War Veteran: From War to Assembly to Revolution 12:29 The Defense of Sullivan's Island 16:36 Charleston Falls, Marion Escapes 19:38 The Birth of Marion's Brigade 27:51 The Raids and Tactics of the Swamp Fox 33:14 Banastre Tarleton: Nemesis of Brutal Reputation 36:38 Light Horse Harry Lee and Marion United 45:07 How Cutting Cornwallis' Supply Lines Won the American Revolution 57:54 Cowpens: A Decisive Victory 1:01:50 Why the Southern Campaign in the American Revolution Matters

  • August 12 · 1 hr 5 min

    Disgraced Cavalier: How Light-Horse Harry Lee Lost His Fortune and Family

    This is the tale of how debt, speculation, and imprudence turned Light Horse Harry Lee from a celebrated Revolutionary War hero praised for his cavalry raids, his tactical brilliance, and his closeness to George Washington into a disgraced scoundrel known throughout Virginia as a dishonorable debt dodger. In 1782, Harry Lee returned to Stratford Hall to marry his wealthy cousin Matilda Lee, known as "the Dividine Matilda", and step into plantation life, but the quiet work of farming and managing property did not suit him. His military energy and ambition, which had served him well in war, became liabilities in peace. Harry turned to speculation, debt, and land schemes, including failed ventures in Mississippi and the planned town of Matildaville near the Great Falls of the Potomac. He also tried to help veterans and pursued a political career as a Federalist, serving in the Continental Congress and the Virginia Convention. Despite these activities, his finances worsened, and his reputation suffered as he sold land, borrowed heavily, and failed to manage his estate. Matilda's death and the trust she created limited Harry's control over Stratford, but did not stop his decline. He later married Ann Hill Carter, whose family protected her inheritance from his debts. His role as governor of Virginia and then commander during the Whiskey Rebellion briefly restored his military standing, but political opponents removed him from office soon after. Stratford fell into disrepair as creditors closed in and the family's resources shrank. Harry's ruin deepened through fraudulent and reckless dealings, including disputes over land and repeated defaults on obligations. He alienated George Washington, and his financial desperation dragged his brothers into debt as well. In 1807, Robert E. Lee was born at the fortified, debt-ridden Stratford Hall. By 1809, Harry was arrested and sent to debtor's prison, where he wrote his memoirs in hopes of earning enough to recover. After his release, Harry was forced out of Stratford and moved with Ann and their children to Alexandria. During the War of 1812, he was badly beaten by a mob in Baltimore while defending a Federalist newspaper office, leaving him disfigured and disabled. He then fled to the West Indies, where he spent his final years in exile, writing moral advice to his children while living in poverty. In 1818, dying and in severe pain, he was carried to Cumberland Island, Georgia, where he spent his last weeks at Dungeness before dying and being buried there. His death left a lasting mark on Robert E. Lee, who built his own life around discipline, self-control, and avoidance of debt. In 1913, Harry's remains were finally brought back to Virginia and reburied beside his son at Lee Chapel. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Summit of Light Horse Harry Lee's Glory 3:05 Harry's Fall Begins: Land Boom Fever and Matilda's Will 18:34 The Courtship of Ann Lee: Courtship and Control 24:43 Debt and Decline: Betraying Friends, Including the Heroic Washington 42:38 Robert E Lee's Birth Amid Ruin and Debtor's Prison 50:00 The Baltimore Mob Attacks 53:30 Lee's West Indies Exile 1:01:49 How Harry Lee Shaped Robert E Lee Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ggLJfH Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4hWbm6D

  • August 8 · 56 min

    Cavalier of the American Revolution: Light Horse Harry Lee's Military Career

    This is the story of Light Horse Harry Lee, the dashing Cavalier of the American Revolution, and how he helped win the War for American Independence through his talented command of Lee's Legion. It is the tale of how he developed his skills as a horseman and leader in his Leesylvania estate, studied the Classics at Princeton and won renown as a scholar, built himself into a brilliant cavalier of a military leader, and won great morale-boosting victories at Spread Eagle Tavern and Paulus Hook before masterminding a strategy that defeated Lord Cornwallis in the South. He led with bravery, before quitting in pique over the jealousies of other officers and marrying Matilda Lee of Stratford Hall before the conclusion of the war. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/cavalier-of-the-american-revolution Henry Lee III was born in 1756 at Leesylvania in Virginia as the eldest son of Henry Lee II and Lucy Grymes. Raised among the Virginia gentry, he learned riding, command, and social confidence from family life, estate management, and contact with local political leaders. He entered Princeton in 1770, where John Witherspoon turned Nassau Hall into a rigorous center for classical learning and Whig ideas. Harry Lee studied alongside such great contemporaries as James Madison and Aaron Burr while a student of Princeton, and he excelled in Latin, Greek, mathematics, history, and literature, and graduated in 1773 with a public oration and a reputation as both scholar and gentleman. At first Lee planned to study law in England, but rising conflict with Britain changed that course. After Lexington and Concord, he returned to Virginia, joined the militia, and in 1776 received a commission as captain of the 5th Troop of Virginia Light Dragoons. Lee organized his troop with unusual care, using family resources to equip it with fine horses and strict discipline. In winter 1778, his small command won fame at Spread Eagle Tavern near Valley Forge, where ten dragoons held off a much larger British cavalry force. In the wake of this morale-boosting victory, George Washington offered Lee a position as his aide de camp, but Harry Lee refused, saying he was "wedded to my sword." Washington, who loved the young man, then helped secure him an independent partisan command, later known as Lee's Legion, a combined arms force of light cavalry and light infantry. Light Horse Harry Lee designed its distinctive green-and-crimson uniform and led it in raids, scouting, and surprise attacks in both the northern and southern campaigns, helping win the war by wearing down the British. In August 1779, Lee carried out a night assault on Paulus Hook, leading a difficult march through swamps before taking the fort by bayonet attack and withdrawing with few casualties. The victory brought praise but also a court-martial from jealous officers, which Lee defeated by defending himself. Congress awarded him a gold medal for the morale effect of his victory; he was the only non-general to be awarded such a prize. Sent south in 1780, Light Horse Harry Lee fought alongside General Greene and the famous Francis Marion, better known as "The Swamp Fox", in the Carolinas and developed a strategy he compared to Scipio Africanus: bypass Lord Cornwallis, strike British posts in South Carolina, and cut off their support from Southern Tories. This approach helped Greene and Lee dismantle British control in the interior and support the path to Yorktown, helping win the American Revolution. By the end of the war, Lee was exhausted and bitter. He resigned in early 1782, married Matilda Lee of Stratford Hall, and became lord of the estate. This was his last moment of true triumph before the decline began. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Light Horse Harry Lee: Cavalier of the American Revolution 2:55 What Light Horse Harry Learned at Leesylvania 9:11 Harry Becomes a Noted Princeton Scholar 15:49 Light Horse Harry Leaps into the War for American Independence 18:18 Lee's Legion Takes Shape 31:12 The Paulus Hook Masterstroke 36:59 Light Horse Harry and Lee's Legion Fight the Southern Campaign 45:24 Yorktown and Bitter Triumph 50:18 Stratford Hall and the Divide Matilda: Glory Before the Fall Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05 Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ggLJfH Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4hWbm6D

  • August 5 · 55 min

    Light-Horse Harry & Robert E. Lee: The Lees of Leesylvania

    This is the story of the family that produced Light Horse Harry and Robert E Lee: the Lees of Leesylvania, the Virginia branch of the Lee family that produced a long line of planters, soldiers, politicians, and lawyers. In it, I contrast the Leesylvania Lees with the Stratford Hall Lees and show how the Leesylvania line developed its own place in Virginia history as some of the greatest and most memorable members of the gentry through landholding, public service, and military command. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/light-horse-harry-and-robert-e-lee The story begins with Henry Lee I, the founder of the Leesylvania line. Born to Richard Lee II and Letitia Corbin, he became a major tobacco planter and militia officer who managed plantations, defended the Northern Neck, and expanded into frontier lands along the Potomac. He established holdings at Freestone Point and later developed the area that became Leesylvania. Henry Lee II then turned that inherited tract into the family seat. After marrying Lucy Grymes, the famed "Lowland Beauty" whose hand he won despite competition from George Washington, he built the house at Freestone Point and named it Leesylvania. The estate became a large plantation complex with scientific management, crop rotation, domestic production, commercial fishing operations, pork and corn production, and horse breeding. Henry II also served as a county leader and burgess, and Leesylvania became a social and political gathering place that often hosted George Washington. The episode then turns to the children of Henry Lee II and Lucy Grymes, especially Henry Lee III, Charles Lee, Richard Bland Lee, and Edmund Jennings Lee. Henry Lee III became Light Horse Harry, a Revolutionary War cavalry commander famed for his leadership of "Lee's Legion" and one of Washington's favorites. Charles Lee became attorney general under George Washington and John Adams. Richard Bland Lee helped shape the compromise over federal assumption and the site of the national capital. Edmund Jennings Lee became mayor of Alexandria and a long-time defender of the Episcopal Church. The final section traces the family's decline after Henry Lee II's death, the burning and loss of Leesylvania, and the dispersal of the family into Alexandria. It then looks ahead to later generations, including Sidney Smith Lee, Robert E. Lee, Custis Lee, Rooney Lee, and Fitzhugh Lee, showing that although the estates disappeared, the family's military and public legacy remained part of American history. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Lees of Leesylvania: The Other Lees 3:07 Henry Lee I 9:45 Leesylvania Takes Shape Under Henry Lee II 18:42 Life at Leesylvania: Commerce, Horses, and Hospitality 29:32 The Revolutionary Generation Of Leesylvania Rises 39:39 Sydney Smith Lee's Crazy Naval Career 45:49 Harry's Fall and Robert Lee 48:09 The Lee Family During the Civil War and After It 51:18 The Final Years and Legacy of the Leesylvania Lees Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4xltuvc Connelly, Thomas Lawrence, The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4hOR3bg Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/3Ruayvi Dowdey, Clifford, Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4wBOgH2 Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z6IUFB Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4xnlZ7g Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4q4w3Qc Gamble, Robert S., Sully: The Biography of a House, https://amzn.to/4hzPvSH Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/3SfHPdN Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4fQm5Ns Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, C.S.A., https://amzn.to/4hh1xQx McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4fHyJ2s Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4gapiZz Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4bQL1U3 Unger, Harlow Giles, First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4pYIsop

  • August 1 · 1 hr 11 min

    The Virginia Gentry's Cursus Honorum: How to Build a Virtuous Aristocracy

    Why were the Founders so excellent and our modern leaders so awful? Because they cultivated and developed themselves into great men rather than relying on credentialism and technocracy. This episode discusses the Virginia gentry as a ruling class that developed itself in virtue, duty, and the skill of governance through a structured sequence of responsibilities--the "cursus honorum" of the Virginia gentry. This development began with the plantation, where competence was judged publicly through the quality of the tobacco crop and the condition of the estate. From there, the Virginia gentleman went on to serve in local church vestries, county courts, and the House of Burgesses, and eventually national politics, such as the American Revolution's Continental Congress. We use that to show how Virginians were expected to prove themselves at each level before advancing further. We then compare this Virginia system with the Roman cursus honorum, the progression from military service to questor, aedile, praetor, senate service, and consul upon which the Roman elite embarked. We discuss the two systems of tiered elite formation, and why they are necessary in building an aristocratic republic that functions well, emphasizing that both systems tied status to duty, training, and public service rather than to wealth alone. We then contrast the Virginia gentry with later American elites, especially the WASP and technocratic classes of the Gilded Age through modernity, arguing that these newer elites became rootless, moved away from the communities that formed them, and relied more on abstract credentials, institutions, and centralized systems. Trusts, Ivy League education, and modern managerial structures are discussed as examples of this shift, and how it is deleterious. Overall, we discuss whether a modern version of this kind of aristocratic development could be rebuilt. The speakers argue that tiered institutions, family continuity, local cooperation, and visible standards of conduct could still create a leadership class. We also discuss how AI, surveillance technology, and financial change may make personal quality and judgment more visible, while warning that technology alone cannot solve problems without the right character in the people who use it. Find Gregory Treat's work here: https://avaloncircle.substack.com/ Listen to this episode ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentrys-cursus-honorum Read the referenced article on the cursus honorum here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/equality-and-the-only-political-question Listen to the previous episode here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-how-americas Read the referenced article on building aristocracy here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/embodying-aristocratic-excellence Read the referenced article on architecture here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-architecture-of-american-renewal

  • July 29 · 1 hr 18 min

    The Virginia Gentry: How America's Only Aristocracy Formed in Old Virginia

    For centuries, the Virginia gentry has been drenched in myth, romance, and Cavalier legend. Here, we cut through the romanticism of Old Virginia to discuss the reality of America's only real landed aristocracy. We describe the origins and formation of the Virginia gentry, how tobacco culture and great estates turned it into a coherent landed gentry class, how it used religion in Colonial Virginia and the county court system to build and hold onto political power. Then we discuss the reality of the hospitality and leisure activities for which it was famous, from horse racing to dancing. We also discuss the intellectual training of the Virginia gentleman, the nature of plantation life, the concept of hegemonic liberty, and how high levels of debt to merchant factors helped push Virginia into the American Revolution. Overall, this episode delves deep into the culture, history, and lives of the famous gentlemen of Old Virginia. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-how-americas Popular mythology long romanticized colonial Virginia as a land of effortless feudal baronies populated by chivalric English Cavaliers. In reality, the "First Families of Virginia" were built by hard-headed English merchants, ship captains, and ambitious entrepreneurs who utilized the headright system and transatlantic trade to consolidate vast riverfront estates across the Tidewater. From the symmetrical Georgian lines of Stratford Hall and Westover to the all-pervading economic dominance of the tobacco leaf, these grand plantations functioned as physical fortresses of patriarchal authority, projecting an image of immovable order, rank, and permanence over the Chesapeake wilderness. In this episode, we explore how the daily governance of Old Virginia gave rise to the revolutionary generation. We trace the gentry's power through a tripod of institutional authority—the private plantation, the parish vestry, and the county court—where young grandees received a hands-on apprenticeship in the art of governing long before taking their seats in Colonial Williamsburg or Philadelphia. Combined with a culture of high-stakes equestrian gambling, courtly dancing, and classical scholarship, the planter class cultivated a fierce ideology of "hegemonic liberty." Discover how luxury spending, volatile markets, and a crushing web of transatlantic debt eventually pitted these Tidewater patriarchs against British merchants, propelling men like Washington, Jefferson, Mason, and Richard Henry Lee to lead the assault against the British Empire. Chapters 0:00 The Myth of Old Virginia and the Virginia Gentleman 4:42 The Origin and Formation of the Virginia Gentry 15:47 Tobacco Culture in Virginia 21:07 The Great Plantation Mansions of Virginia 33:50 The Virginia Plantations 39:58 Political Training in the Parish Vestry and County Court 47:53 Religion in Colonial Virginia 52:52 Leisure and Fun with the Virginia Gentry 59:09 Virginia Hospitality: Dance, Music, and Conviviality 1:02:42 Libraries and Learning 1:05:42 Hegemonic Liberty 1:08:01 The Merchant Factors and Credit Trap 1:15:22 The Gentlemen Who Led the American Revolution Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Billings, Warren M., Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia, https://amzn.to/4c9LrER Breen, T. H., Tobacco Culture, https://amzn.to/4wNrigt Bridenbaugh, Carl, Myths and Realities: Societies of the Colonial South, https://amzn.to/4wybkqi Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat of Empire:, https://amzn.to/45q3nr4 Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pLWjOM Bruce, Philip Alexander, Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4pIGUPj Bruce, Philip Alexander, Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, https://amzn.to/4wF4LlJ Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/44LGdLF Carson, Jane, Colonial Virginians at Play Evans, Emory G., A Topping People, https://amzn.to/4xaSQfj Fischer, David Hackett, Albion's Seed, https://amzn.to/4xaSKUZ Isaac, Rhys, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790, https://amzn.to/4ftuyr2 Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4pFM2Ut Rasmussen, William M. S., Old Virginia, https://amzn.to/4bne0yu Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/45nNe5o Wright, Louis B., The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4vXmOlU

  • July 26 · 37 min

    Forgotten Founding Father: Francis Lightfoot Lee, the Duty-Bound Virginia Gentleman

    Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Savior of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Drafter of the Articles of Confederation. Respected by Northerner and Southerner alike. Known as the "sweetest" of the Lee family, and probably the most politically effective. Francis Lightfoot Lee is one of the most important, but least remembered, Founding Fathers and Lee brothers of Stratford Hall. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/forgotten-founding-father-francis Born at Stratford Hall, educated in Classical virtue at home, and later settled on frontier land in Loudoun County, he entered politics through the House of Burgesses, married Rebecca Plater Tayloe, and built a private life at Menokin while continuing public service. A reluctant patriot who participated in politics out of duty rather than dreams of self-aggrandizement, Francis Lightfoot Lee was trusted and chosen by Virginia to represent the state in Congress. So, in 1775, he journeyed to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress, where he worked on wartime administration, the Board of War, and the Articles of Confederation, and on August 2, 1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence. As a quiet figure in the Continental Congress, Francis Lightfoot Lee was known by everyone from his beloved brothers to John Adams and Dr. Benjamin Rush for judgment, steadiness, and commitment to steady and important committee work rather than flowery speeches, along with his deep and abiding commitment to his brothers, as shown by his protest resignation during an attack on Richard Henry Lee, and his effective adoption of his brother William's two orphaned daughters after his eventual retirement from politics in 1779, followed by his death in 1797 shortly after his beloved wife Becky's. Chapters 0:00 Francis Lightfoot Lee: The Hidden Patriot 3:59 Classical Education and Loudoun County: Francis Lee's Early Life 10:18 Entering Revolutionary Politics 13:15 Menokin and Marriage 15:44 Duty Calls Lee to Congress 21:04 How Francis Lightfoot Lee Saved Washington's Army at Valley Forge 22:55 The Lee Brothers Who Signed Independence 29:11 Francis's Federalist Break With Richard Henry 31:02 Retirement From Public Life, and Final Days at Menokin 35:36 A Quiet Revolutionary Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Semsch, Suzanne Hadfield, The Lees of Menokin: An Early American Love Story, https://amzn.to/4bMhBpP Bridenbaugh, Carl, Seat of Empire:, https://amzn.to/45q3nr4 Bruce, Philip Alexander, The Virginia Plutarch, https://amzn.to/4fVURWR Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/44LGdLF Chitwood, Oliver Perry, Richard Henry Lee: Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4x2DY2q Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4pFM2Ut Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/3TcZ2VB McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4fGtjnj Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4fzRTWy Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4yHwQua Selby, John E., The Revolution in Virginia, 1775–1783, https://amzn.to/45oTOZu Sydnor, Charles S., Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia, https://amzn.to/45nNe5o Wood, Gordon S., The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787, https://amzn.to/4x46Pnd

  • July 19 · 33 min

    The Merchant Diplomat: William Lee's Secret Dutch Treaty and the Victory at Yorktown

    A younger son of Thomas Lee, William Lee was the best businessman in the Lee Family of Virginia and used his skills as a merchant, trader, and radical London politician to help win the American Revolution through a clever bit of "militia diplomacy". Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-merchant-diplomat-william-lees This episode follows William Lee of Stratford Hall, a younger son of the Lee family who was trained in the tobacco economy rather than given the advantages of his older brothers. After his father's death, he worked under Philip Ludwell Lee as a clerk, steward, and estate manager, overseeing tobacco rents, warehouses, and shipping operations at Stratford Hall, the seat of the Lee family of Virginia and a major center of commerce in the colonial tobacco trade. The experience taught him how the Atlantic tobacco trade worked and how British merchants and factors controlled much of its profit. William Lee then became a London tobacco factor and built his own merchant house in London, starting in 1768. He strengthened it through his marriage to Hannah Philippa Ludwell, which brought him capital and the historic Green Spring estate. From Tower Hill, he sold tobacco directly for his Virginia relatives and supplied them with imported goods, while also becoming active in London's civic politics. He rose to sheriff and then alderman of the City of London, and in that role, he publicly presented petitions critical of the Lord North ministry's conduct in America. As the war worsened, Lee warned that the colonies could not depend on British goodwill and would have to rely on their own efforts. In 1777, he left London, gave up his business, and went to Nantes as a commercial agent for the United States. There, he found corruption in the American supply system and reported what he saw, clashing with Thomas Morris, Silas Deane, Jonathan Williams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Morris. After being pushed out of Nantes, Lee was sent to Berlin and Vienna, where he received no useful audience. Cut off from official diplomacy, he traveled to Aix-la-Chapelle and drafted an unauthorized treaty with a representative tied to Amsterdam merchants. The treaty was later discovered on Henry Laurens and used by Britain as grounds for war with the Dutch Republic, which forced Britain to divert ships from America and helped weaken its blockade before Yorktown. After the war, Lee returned to Virginia without compensation or public thanks. He died in 1795. Chapters 0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia and the Sinews of Empire 2:51 The Education of William Lee 5:24 William's Stratford Hall Apprenticeship 8:31 William's Success as a London Tobacco Merchant 11:59 William Lee's Rise in London Politics and Power 16:29 William's Flight to France 18:22 Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin: More Corruption in Nantes 20:53 William's Militia Diplomacy Masterstroke 25:25 The Dutch Treaty Triggers War 27:53 A Bitter Homecoming: Forgotten, Alone, and Blind 31:54 The Legacy of William Lee Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Riggs, A.R.: The Nine Lives of Arthur Lee, Virginia Patriot, https://amzn.to/3Rh08Pd Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen,https://amzn.to/43N4FLY

  • July 15 · 51 min

    Arthur Lee: The Forgotten Founder, Spy, and Diplomat Who Armed the Revolution

    Without Arthur Lee, America would not have won the revolution: one of the earliest revolutionaries and most important pamphleteers, he became a spy and diplomat whose efforts secured the arms that won the battle of Saratoga. Yet now he is all but forgotten. Why? He was described by John Adams as a man too honest and intrepid to be popular, and the episode traces how that temperament shaped his career, a career that was integral to the Founding of America and victory in the American Revolution. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/arthur-lee-the-forgotten-founder Born at Stratford Hall, Arthur Lee was the youngest son of Thomas Lee. Educated in Britain, Arthur was trained in the classics at Eton, where Greek and Latin study, particularly the works of Sallust, shaped his moral and political thinking. He became intelligent, gifted, and difficult, developing an unyielding belief in virtue and Republican principles. He then studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leiden, earned a medical doctorate with high honors, and returned to Virginia to practice in Williamsburg. He disliked the provincial setting and quickly grew frustrated with colonial medicine. During this period, he also became involved in a duel-related dispute with the Mercer Family connected to his brother Richard Henry Lee's role in the Stamp Act controversy, an incident that was defused before it turned deadly. Lee later returned to Britain and shifted from medicine to law, studying at Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple. In London, he moved among intellectual circles, became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and began writing political pamphlets. Under pseudonyms such as Monitor and Junius Americanus, he attacked Parliament's Townshend Act policies and argued for colonial rights, becoming the most influential radical writer of his day. With the outbreak of war, Congress commissioned Arthur Lee as a secret diplomatic agent. He worked with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to secure covert French and Spanish aid through the fake firm Rodriguez Hortalez and Company, helping arrange arms and supplies that supported the American forces over 1777, particularly during the war-changing Saratoga campaign. He also traveled to Spain and Prussia, where he negotiated for aid and had his papers stolen and copied by British agents. Lee's later service in the American commission in Passy, outside Paris, brought conflict with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane. He accused Deane of corruption and Edward Bancroft of espionage, but Franklin rejected his claims. These disputes split American diplomacy, led to Lee's recall in 1779, and left him politically isolated. After returning to America, a journey interrupted by two mutinies he provoked aboard the Alliance, Arthur Lee served in Virginia and Congress, worked on treasury oversight, and later withdrew to Lansdowne, where he lived in isolation and died in 1792. A century later, archival evidence confirmed some of his suspicions about Bancroft and Deane. All in all, Lee was a gifted patriot and his role in the American Revolution was long underestimated. This is the story of how a doctor, lawyer, pamphleteer, spy, diplomat, politician, and planter was, at his core, a patriot who helped win the Revolution. Chapters 0:00 Arthur Lee: The Forgotten Patriot 4:15 How Studying the Classics Turned Arthur Lee Into a Revolutionary 8:36 Arthur's Foray into Medicine and London Politics 12:21 Arthur Lee Almost Fights a Duel with George Mercer 15:54 Radical Writer in the Empire 19:11 America's First Secret Agent 24:53 "Militia Diplomacy" in Paris, Spain, and Berlin 30:40 Squabbles with Benjamin Franklin, Feuds with Silas Dean, and the Discovery of Corruption 36:56 Arthur Lee's Recall from France, Mutiny on the Alliance, and Homeward Exile 47:01 Arthur Lee Vindicated by the British Archives 48:56 Arthur Lee's Revolutionary Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Riggs, A.R.: The Nine Lives of Arthur Lee, Virginia Patriot, https://amzn.to/3Rh08Pd Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen, https://amzn.to/43N4FLY Image credits: Landsdowne house, By Ryanlintelman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:/ /commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40834707

  • July 11 · 1 hr 1 min

    The Virginia Gentry: America's Only Aristocracy and What We can Learn from Them

    In this episode, Will discusses the history, formation, and immense accomplishments of the Virginia Gentry with J Burden. The two cover why the Virginian planter class was different from the planters of the Deep South and the WASPs of the North, making it the only real American aristocracy. They then cover how the famed "Virginia Cavalier" migration wave was true in a sense, and how it brought the concept of state, church, and property being unified to the Old Dominion. Building on that, they discuss how the leading men of Old Virginia built their local power and sovereignty through a "cursus honorum" that combined the best aspects of aristocracy and democracy to build a tremendously competent leadership class in Colonial Virginia and Early Republic America. Finally, the two then discuss what we can learn from the Virginia gentry to rebuild effective political, social, and economic power as a counter-elite. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-americas-only Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790 By Emory G. Evans, ⁠https://amzn.to/4o7ILN0⁠ Albion's Seed By David Hackett Fischer, ⁠https://amzn.to/4fHA89R⁠ Colonial Virginia: Its People and Customs By Mary Newton Stanard, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2nT4W⁠ Colonial Virginia, Volume I and II By Richard L. Morton, ⁠https://amzn.to/3SjTUy8⁠ American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, ⁠https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ⁠ Old Virginia by William M. S. Rasmussen, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2mueG⁠ The Age of Federalism By Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, ⁠https://amzn.to/3QfnQuR⁠ The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, ⁠https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh⁠ The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 By Rhys Isaac, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e4YZSs⁠ Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen,⁠https://amzn.to/43N4FLY⁠ The Sociology of Colonial Virginia By Morris Talpalar, ⁠https://amzn.to/4o8Ny0v⁠

  • July 5 · 28 min

    The Conway Cabal: Did Richard Henry Lee Betray George Washington?

    This episode investigates the vital, lifelong partnership between George Washington and Richard Henry Lee, examining the persistent historical rumors that Lee sought to undermine the Commander in Chief in favor of General Nathanael Greene during the desperate winter at Valley Forge. Long before the whispers of the Conway Cabal or the publication of forged letters designed to divide them, their alliance was forged in the Northern Neck of Virginia and tested within the House of Burgesses, where they stood together against the corrupt circle of Treasury SecretaryJohn Robinson. From their joint resistance to the Stamp Act and the signing of the Westmoreland Resolves, Lee and Washington operated in lockstep. When Washington took to the field to lead the Continental Army, Lee became his indispensable voice within the Continental Congress—securing critical food and ordnance, routing trans-Atlantic intelligence directly to the field, and eventually orchestrating the political destruction of the Conway Cabal to secure Washington's supreme command. Though the ratification of the United States Constitution would later trigger a political rift—with Lee emerging as a leading Anti-Federalist critic—their personal bond endured until the master of Chantilly on the Potomac was laid to rest. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-conway-cabal-did-richard-henry CHAPTERS: 0:00 Founding Foes and Friends 3:48 The Great Northern Neck Alliance: George Washington and Richard Henry Lee 6:39 How Henry Lee and George Washington Led Stamp Act Resistance 8:38 Supporting the War and Washington 12:46 The Conway Cabal: Rumors and Reality 21:07 A Divide Over the Constitution 23:09 Old Friends Reunite 24:32 Shared Western Dreams 26:21 Final Political Alignment Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Maier, Pauline: The Old Revolutionaries, https://amzn.to/3RdsNEU McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Chitwood, Oliver Perry: Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4ghdkxM Unger, Harlow Giles: First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4oYRYaB Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z

  • July 1 · 57 min

    The First and Forgotten Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee's Creation of America

    First of the Founding Fathers to openly call for independence, the first to call for union of the states, and the first to call for a bill of rights, Richard Henry Lee was one of the greatest Founding Fathers and is the Founder most remarkable for the number of "firsts" to his name. It was also Richard Henry Lee who authored the Westmoreland Resolves that led the field in organized and armed resistance to Britain, introduced the idea of Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, was first chosen by Virginia to attend the First Continental Congress, and who masterminded a slew of political and diplomatic victories that ensured Washington's ultimate victory in the Revolutionary War. He held Congress together when Philadelphia was captured, saved Stratford Hall from British raiders by leading the militia, organized the West by creating the law that became the Northwest Ordinance, and ensured the Bill of Rights became law. He was a great man, yet now he is the Forgotten Founding Father, the man who ought be remembered but is not. So we remember him, this is his story Listen ad-free here: ⁠https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-first-and-forgotten-founding⁠ CHAPTERS: 0:00 America's First Founding Father 7:27 Richard Henry Lee's Life at Chantilly on the Potomac 19:13 Richard Henry Lee Enters Virginia Politics 25:00 The Architect of Resistance to the Stamp Act 29:06 Creator of the Committees of Correspondence 33:20 Richard Henry Lee Declares Independence 37:48 War, Raids, and Congress 39:37 A Leader During Confederation, Shaper of the West 41:19 Anti-Federalist Leader? 44:03 Senator and Bill of Rights Champion 45:03 Retirement and Disillusionment 49:50 Final Years at Chantilly on the Potomoac Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Maier, Pauline: The Old Revolutionaries, https://amzn.to/3RdsNEU McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Chitwood, Oliver Perry: Richard Henry Lee, Statesman of the Revolution, https://amzn.to/4ghdkxM Unger, Harlow Giles: First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence, https://amzn.to/4oYRYaB Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z

  • June 28 · 40 min

    Founding Brothers: How One Generation of Lees Won the Revolution and Built America

    In the winter of 1750, the death of Thomas Lee left his six sons to inherit a massive empire of Tidewater land and transatlantic commerce—an inheritance that would ultimately forge them into the most formidable family alliance of the American Revolution. Steeped in the stern classical traditions of Greece and Rome, the five younger brothers—Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, William, and Arthur Lee—found themselves bound together by a shared Classical tradition, patriotic American outlook, and bitter domestic feud over their patrimony against their overbearing eldest brother, Philip Ludwell Lee. From the splendorous river wharves of Stratford Hall to the quiet gardens of Chantilly-on-the-Potomac, and from the legislative benches of Williamsburg and Philadelphia to the precarious courts of Europe, this chronicle follows five of the greatest men of the Lee Family of Virginia as they sacrificed their ease, fortune, and peace to win the American Revolution and build the American Republic. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Death of Thomas Lee at Stratford Hall 3:15 How A Classical Education Created Four Founders 10:13 Philip Ludwell Lee—"Colonel Phil"—Takes Control 13:00 The Lee Brothers Work Together, But are Divided by Thomas's Will 21:15 Chantilly on the Potomac Becomes The Base of the Founding Brothers 23:12 How the Lee Brothers Helped Win the American Revolution 29:12 William and Arthur Abroad 33:05 The Cost of Revolution: Death and Disillusionment 38:18 The Legacy of the Lee Brothers of Stratform Hall Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF

  • June 25 · 47 min

    Father of Four Founding Fathers: Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall

    How does a younger son, marginalized by primogeniture, forge America's most formidable revolutionary dynasty, siring four of the greatest Founding Fathers and two signers of the Declaration of Independence? This is the epic saga of Thomas Lee, the father of the Founding Fathers, builder of Stratford Hall, and great frontier fortune builder. Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/father-of-four-founding-fathers-thomas Before his sons shook the foundations of the British Empire, a single man conquered the isolating stillness of the early Virginia wilderness. Born in 1690 at Machodoc plantation to Richard Lee II, Thomas taught himself the ancient classics by candlelight, cultivating an aggressive, unyielding genius for land, trade, and politics. In 1711, at the remarkably raw age of twenty-one, he supplanted Robert "King" Carter, becoming the resident agent for Lady Fairfax's five-million-acre Northern Neck Proprietary. For years, Thomas lived in the saddle, mapping critical river access and scouting the uncultivated frontier so he could patent prime territories for himself—including massive holdings near the Great Falls of the Potomac. In 1722, he wed the aristocratic heiress Hannah Harrison Ludwell, anchoring his branch of the Lee Family of Virginia to the highest tier of Tidewater society. But the fragile peace of the colony was shattered on a bitter winter night in 1729 when a gang of transported convicts, whom Thomas had strictly punished as a local magistrate, set his Machadoc plantation manor house ablaze. The family narrowly escaped into the freezing night as their home, commercial stores, and cherished library were entirely reduced to cinders. Rising from the ashes, Thomas—supported by the exceptional talents of his wife, Hannah—finished constructing his fortress-like brick masterpiece upon the Potomac cliffs: Stratford Hall. While Hannah directed this flourishing plantation and center of trade, Thomas ascended to the apex of colonial power, serving in the House of Burgesses before being appointed to the elite, life-appointed Governor's Council. He then became one of the great men pushing expansion to the West. In 1744, he negotiated the historic Treaty of Lancaster with the Six Nations and organized the Ohio Company, boldly claiming a continental empire for the British Crown. By 1749, he reached the zenith of colonial politics as Acting Governor of Virginia. He died in 1750, leaving behind a vast estate and six sons whose inherited defiance would ultimately ignite the American Revolution. This is the tale of how one man's relentless ambition laid the physical, financial, and political foundations of a republic. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall: Father of the Founding Fathers 1:44 Thomas Lee's Early Life as a Younger Son 6:15 How Thomas Lee Became the Agent for the Fairfax Proprietorship, and Used It to Build a Fortune 15:26 Thomas Lee's Marriage to Hannah Ludwell Lee 17:08 Fire and Ruin: The Convicts Cause Damage 22:03 Stratford Hall: Building a Plantation 33:36 Thomas Lee's Rise to the Top of Virginia Politics 36:45 Thomas Lee's Western Empire Vision: The Treaty of Lancaster and the Ohio Company 42:19 The First Virginian: Thomas Lee Becomes Acting Governor of Virginia 44:11 His Final Years and Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Burt, Nathaniel: First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/3Sopnj2 Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/43UPMaK Morton, Richard L.: Colonial Virginia VOLUME II Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-1763, https://amzn.to/4vynVJw Potts, Louis W.: Arthur Lee: A Virtuous Revolutionary, https://amzn.to/4vpFLOF Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Theodor de Bry, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By MamaGeek at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4255589 By I, MamaGeek, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2523197 By Mobilus In Mobili - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobili/25412267772/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57303158 By Codex Sinaiticus at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57703516 By Ron Cogswell - The Governor's Palace -- Williamsburg (VA) September 2012, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47502435

  • June 21 · 46 min

    The Reluctant Patriarch: Richard Lee II and the Lees of Virginia

    This is the tale of how the Lee Family of Virginia became a fledgling American aristocracy after Richard Lee I died in 1664, leaving behind the foundations of a great family fortune: a large commercial and landholding empire divided between Virginia and London. In this episode, we dive into how Richard Lee II, known as Richard the Scholar, became the patriarch and guided his family into becoming a dynasty, while navigating crises like Bacon's Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution, always working to preserve the family estates and secure their future for later generations, including great men like Thomas Lee, Richard Henry Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee. Subscribe for more deep-dive history: https://www.youtube.com/@realTheOldWorldShow Listen ad-free here: Who was the real driving force behind the famous Lee Family of Virginia? While Colonel Richard Lee "The Emigrant" built a staggering transatlantic shipping and tobacco empire involving 15,000 acres of land, multiple ships, and a London headquarters, the true test of the dynasty belonged to the children he left behind in the wild country of the Northern Neck, particularly his second-oldest son, Richard "the Scholar" Lee. In this long-form historical podcast about the Lee family, we investigate the dramatic, often-overlooked history of the second generation of that dynasty that later proved so influential in American history, particularly during the American Revolution. We track the contrasting lives of the sons of Richard Lee I: John Lee, the Oxford-educated "Golden Boy" who created America's very first country club before dying young; Francis Lee, the calculating London merchant who built a great fortune but fell out of the family; and the central patriarch, Richard Lee II—"The Scholar in the Wilderness". Richard Lee II was a pious and private man who much preferred his library of 300 books to the chaos of colonial politics and fortune building. Yet, following his brother's sudden death, he was dragged from his study to lead the family through the bloodiest upheavals in early American history—enduring a harrowing imprisonment during Bacon's Rebellion and an almost career-ending standoff in the Glorious Revolution, before later working with the Fairfax family to bring order and aristocracy to the Northern Neck. Finally, we uncover how feuding over a poorly written will helped him set up the third generation of Lees for success, and how Richard II's legacy as the unwilling but dutiful patriarch of the Lees of Virginia ought be considered and remembered. CHAPTERS: 0:00 The Death of Richard Lee I 1:37 The Lee Family's Second Generation 6:07 John Lee, the Golden Son 11:21 Francis Lee: Critical Merchant Across the Atlantic 15:22 "The Scholar": Richard Lee II Takes Charge 22:07 The Cousinage: Richard Lee's Marriage Into the Corbin Family 26:10 How Richard Lee II Stood Down Bacon's Rebellion 33:10 Richard Lee II's Glorious Revolution Crisis 37:18 The Dynasty Solidifies: Fighting for Family Lands 43:30 The Lee Family of Virginia: Richard Lee II's Lasting Legacy Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z McGaughy, J. Kent: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ewtGA4 Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Theodor de Bry, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • June 17 · 32 min

    The Lee Family of Virginia: Descended from a Norman Knight?

    This episode examines the Lee family of Virginia and their claim to descend from a Norman named Reynard de Lega through the landed gentry of Shropshire, namely the Lees of Coton Hall and Nordley Regis, the arms of whom they long claimed, and to whom they insisted they were related. It traces the evidence that supported the pedigree, including a silver cup, a Latin inscription, a tombstone, heraldic writing, and a family Bible, all of which helped persuade the College of Heralds to confirm the Lee arms in 1930. The episode then turns to doubts raised by historians, including repeated place-name errors, such as "Morton Regis", and a genealogy based on an English letter that guessed at the family's earlier history. It then discussed a later investigation that used wills, baptismal records, probate files, and parish registers to argue that Richard Lee I was the son of a Worcester cloth merchant named John Lee and Jane Hancock rather than the Shropshire gentry. Finally, it discusses the generally merchant family origins of many of the First Families of Virginia, including the Carters, and how both those mercantile roots and the old Norman, gentry legend can be true because of how primogeniture operated in 17th century Britain and drove younger sons into trade and to America. 0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia's Norman Legend 2:42 The Lees of Coton Hall 8:33 The Evidence: A Cup and the College of Heralds 15:51 Tombstone Doubts 22:04 Thorndale's Genealogical Breakthrough 25:42 The Merchant Ancestry of the Lees Revealed 28:24 A Mixed Heritage Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/4xs9gRt Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed, https://amzn.to/4gayayG Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z Image credits: Lee Family Coat of Arms based on Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • June 13 · 52 min

    Richard Lee I, the Emigrant: Founder of the Lees of Virginia

    This is the story of the dynast who founded the Lee Family of Virginia: Richard Lee I, also known as Richard Lee the Emigrant. In it we tell the story of his rise in Virginia, from his start as a Clerk of the Quarter Court and Indian trader to his time as great landed proprietor and Secretary of State of Virginia. We discuss his marriage to Anne Constable, how he accumulated landed wealth on a massive scale, and how he survived the Commonwealth and the Restoration. It's an exciting tale of frontier adventure, family triumph, and a great man whose bravery shaped America more than perhaps any other, through his descendants. 0:00 Arrival in Jamestown 3:23 The Lee Family: Cavaliers, Merchants, or Both? 8:13 Richard Lee Becomes a Merchant, and Heads to Virginia 11:53 How Richard Lee Got Ahead: Governor Francis Wyatt 15:31 Richard Marries Anne Constable 17:51 Lee Becomes a Leader of Virginia 25:33 Tobacco, Trade, and Indentures: How Richard Lee Built the Lee Family Fortune, Despite Indian Attacks 35:27 Richard Lee's Royal Mission to Breda 40:16 How Lee the Cavalier Survived the Commonwealth and Quietly Built a Fortune 45:00 The Stuart Restoration, and Lee Returns to Virginia 48:36 How Richard Lee I Ensured the Lees Would Become Famous Sources Referenced in this Episode: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you would like to support the show at no added cost to yourself, you can do so by using the links below to order and read the sources I used to create this episode. Thanks! Nagel, Paul C.: The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Dynasty, https://amzn.to/4uCI6o9 Hendrick, Burton J.: The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4uCN4BF Lee, Cazenove G. Jr.: Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4vGzbDe Evans, Emory G.: A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790, https://amzn.to/4xs9gRt Dowdey, Clifford: The Virginia Dynasties, https://amzn.to/4vlqoqN Dowdey, Clifford: The Golden Age, https://amzn.to/3QbGNi4 Dowdey, Clifford: The Great Plantation, https://amzn.to/4gdOxKR Fischer, David Hackett: Albion's Seed, https://amzn.to/4gayayG Wright, Louis B.: The First Gentlemen of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4ekuR5z Image credits: Coton Hall north of Birdsgreen in Shropshire by Roger D Kidd, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Glasshouse using elements by Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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