Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Lee, Charles

Charles Lee served as attorney general of the United States from 1795 to 1801 under presidents GEORGE WASHINGTON and JOHN ADAMS.

Lee, born in 1758 in Leesylvania, Virginia, descended from a prominent English family. His earliest known ancestor, Lionel Lee, received a title and estate from William the Conqueror. The Lee line in the United States traced back to 1649, when Richard Lee, a member of Charles I's PRIVY COUNCIL, emigrated to help settle the Virginia colonies. Prior to the American Revolution, six of Richard Lee's descendants served simultaneously in the governing body known as the Virginia House of Burgesses; one of those descendants was Charles Lee's father, Henry Lee II.

Lee's father was a...