Charles Lee (Attorney General)

Charles Lee (1758 – June 24, 1815) was an American lawyer from Virginia. He served as United States Attorney General from 1795 until 1801[1] and United States Secretary of State ad interim from May 13, 1800, to June 5, 1800.[2][3]

Charles Lee
3rd United States Attorney General
In office December 10, 1795 – March 4, 1801
President	George Washington John Adams
Preceded by	William Bradford
Succeeded by	Levi Lincoln
United States Secretary of State Acting
In office May 13, 1800 – June 5, 1800
President	John Adams
Preceded by	Timothy Pickering
Succeeded by	John Marshall
Personal details
Born	1758 Leesylvania, Virginia, British America
Died	June 24, 1815 (aged 56–57) Fauquier County, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Federalist
Education	Princeton University (BA)

Charles was born to Henry (1730–1787) and Lucy (Grymes) Lee on his father's plantation of Leesylvania in Prince William County, Virginia. He was the third of eleven children and a younger brother of General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, making him the uncle of Robert E. Lee. Another brother was Congressman Richard Bland Lee. A third cousin was Zachary Taylor. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1775, and then read law with Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia before returning to Virginia.[4]

Charles married Anne Lee (December 1, 1770 – September 9, 1804), his second cousin and the daughter of Richard Henry Lee (his first cousin once removed), in 1789. Before her death in 1804 the couple had six children; Anne Lucinda Lee (1790–1845), infant son (Arthur) Lee (1791–1791), Richard Henry Lee (February–March 1793), Charles Henry Lee (b. October 1794), William Arthur Lee (September 1796 – 1817), and Alfred Lee (1799–1865). He married a second time in 1809, to Margaret Scott (1783–1843), and had four more children in this union; Robert Eden Lee (1810–1843), Elizabeth Gordon Lee (1813–1892), Willis Drury Lee (d.1843), and Alexander Lee (1815–1815).

President George Washington appointed Lee the Attorney General after William Bradford died in office. After Senate approval he took office on December 10, 1795, and served through the rest of the administration. He was continued in office by John Adams and served through the entire Adams administration until February 19, 1801.

During his term in office Lee lived in Alexandria, which was then part of the capital district. He was an early advocate for the return of the southern part of the District of Columbia to Virginia, which finally happened in 1847. After his time as Attorney General, he became the port officer for the District of the Potomac and among the most prominent trial lawyers in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Lee represented William Marbury and other appointees of John Adams in Marbury v. Madison, the landmark case against the Jefferson administration for unfulfilled political appointments. Simultaneously, he defended Hugh Stuart in Stuart v. Laird.

He declined Thomas Jefferson's offer to appoint him a justice of the Supreme Court.

Lee died in 1815 in Fauquier County, Virginia, aged 56 or 57, and is buried in the Warrenton Cemetery in Warrenton.