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Henry Lee Defends His Father, “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, Against the Accusations of Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson’s Grandson and Biographer
Henry Lee Defends His Father, “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, Against the Accusations of Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson’s Grandson and Biographer
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Description:

Thomas Jefferson
New York, NY, ca. 1832
Henry Lee Defends His Father, "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, Against the Accusations of Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson's Grandson and Biographer
Books
[THOMAS JEFFERSON.] HENRY LEE IV / JR., Observations on the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, with Particular Reference to the Attack They Contain on the Memory of the Late Gen. Henry Lee. New York: Charles De Behr, 1832. 237 pp., 5.5" x 8.5". Moderate wear to covers and spine; moderate foxing throughout. Very good.

This original edition was suppressed and most of the copies were destroyed, making this copy a rare survival.

Henry Lee IV wrote this book as a series of eighteen letters to defend his father against what he considered the aspersions Thomas Jefferson had cast in his writings. Lee wrote it in direct response to Thomas Jefferson Randolph's four-volume work (1829) about his grandfather Thomas Jefferson, which sharply criticized Light-Horse Harry Lee. Randolph especially criticized the elder Lee's conduct during his time as Governor of Virginia, accusing him of mismanagement and financial impropriety.

Excerpts
[Jefferson, writing of Lee in a letter to Washington, June 19, 1796:] "I have formerly mentioned to you; that from a very early period of my life, I had laid it down as a rule of conduct, never to write a word for the public papers. From this I have never departed in a single instance; and on a late occasion, when all the world seemed to be writing, besides a rigid adherence to my own rule, I can say with truth that not a line for the press was ever communicated to me by another, except a single petition referred for my correction; which I did not correct, however, though the contrary, as I have heard, was said in a public place, by one person through error, through malice by another. I learn that this last has thought it worth his while to try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still engaged in the bustle of politics, and in turbulence and intrigue against the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the slander of an intriguer, dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of my table, where alone he could hear of me; and seeking to atone for sins against you by sins against another who had never done him any other injury than that of declining his confidences.... But enough of this miserable tergiversator, who ought indeed either to have been of more truth, or less trusted by his country." (p6)

"The respect which in common with a great majority of my countrymen, I was induced to entertain for the character of Mr. Jefferson, is now a double source of regret to me, as it enhances the duty of defending my father's memory and aggravates the pain of performing it." (p8)

[Written in pencil on the final page, in two different hands:]
"Tom Jefferson was the darndest rascal that ever lived."
"Thomas Jefferson was a Patriot Statesman an honest man and a true Philanthropist; this is the result of reading this prejudicial, slanderous dirty book." (p237)

Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III (1757-1818) was born at Leesylvania Plantation in Prince William County, Virginia, graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773, and began a legal career. When the Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord in 1775, Lee became a captain of dragoons. He was promoted to major in 1778 and commanded a combined corps of cavalry and infantry known as "Lee's Legion," famous for its rapid movements and disruption of enemy forces and supplies. He earned the nickname "Light-Horse Harry" for his horsemanship. In 1780, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned to the southern theater, where he and his command participated in many of the battles there, including the surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis's troops at Yorktown, Virginia. From 1786 to 1788, Lee represented Virginia in the Congress of the Confederation and supported the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1788. From 1789 to 1791, Lee served in the Virginia General Assembly before serving as governor from 1791 to 1794. Lee commanded the militia forces that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, and four years later, he was appointed as a major general in the U.S. Army in anticipation of war with France. At Washington's funeral in December 1799, Lee famously referred to Washington as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." He represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1799 to 1801 as a Federalist. The Panic of 1796-1797 diminished his fortune and he unsuccessfully tried to manage his plantation after leaving Congress. He became bankrupt in 1809 and spent one year in a debtors' prison in Montross, Virginia. After he was released, he moved his family to Alexandria, Virginia. President James Madison declined his request for a commission at the beginning of the War of 1812, and Lee was severely beaten while trying to defend his friend, Alexander Contee Hanson, the editor of a Baltimore newspaper opposed to the war. He sailed to the West Indies to recuperate but died in Georgia on his return voyage. Lee's son by his second marriage, Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870), commanded the Confederate armies during the Civil War.

Henry Lee IV / Jr. (1787-1837) was the second son of General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee and Matilda Lee and the older half-brother of Robert E. Lee. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1808. In 1817, he married Anne McCarty and became the guardian of her younger sister Elizabeth. After the Lees young daughter died in a fall, Lee began an adulterous relationship with Elizabeth, earning him the nickname "Black-Horse Harry" and damaging his political career. His mismanagement of Elizabeth's estate forced him to sell Stratford Hall, the family's home for six generations. He served as a speechwriter for Andrew Jackson and helped write Jackson's first inaugural address. Jackson appointed him as consul to Algeria, a position in which he served briefly, but the Senate refused to confirm him and had him recalled. In 1831, he moved with his wife to Paris, where he wrote this book in defense of his father. In 1834, he published the first of two planned volumes on the Life of the Emperor Napoleon. Lee died in Paris of influenza.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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