Problem scenario
After Richard Henry Lee made the “Lee Resolution,” on June 6, 1776, he went back to Virginia. He would have been on the Committee to draft the Declaration of Independence had he stayed (page 305 of Thomas Paine, The Author of the Declaration of Independence). Why Did Richard Henry Lee leave the Continental Congress temporarily in June of 1776?

Answer
His wife was ill (per ushistory.org and page 294 of Thomas Paine,

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Continue reading “Why Did Richard Henry Lee Not Write the Declaration of Independence?”

Problem Scenario
You have read about Cato being someone named Reverend William Smith (a fervent loyalist) while George Washington had an affinity for Cato. Who was Cato in the context of the American Revolution?

Answer
There were different Catoes. There needs to be a disambiguation of “Cato.”

George Washington’s favorite play was Cato by Joseph Addison.

Addison’s play is a dramatization of the last days of … Cato (95-46 BCE),

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Continue reading “Who Was Cato in the American Revolution?”

Problem scenario
In Thomas Paine, the Author of the Declaration of Independence, on page 305, it says “In a letter to Richard Henry Lee, in 1825, he [Thomas Jefferson] makes one significant statement…” Richard Henry Lee died in the 1700s. Was Jefferson losing it and writing to someone who died roughly 30 years prior?

Solution
Apparently this was a mistake of the book.

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Continue reading “Why Did Joseph Lewis Claim That Richard Henry Lee Received a Letter in 1825?”