The Conway Cabal: Did Richard Henry Lee Betray George Washington?
About this episode
This episode explores the partnership between George Washington and Richard Henry Lee amidst historical rumors of betrayal during the American Revolution.
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…
More episodes of The Old World with Will Tanner
- The Merchant Diplomat: William Lee's Secret Dutch Treaty and the Victory at Yorktown
- Arthur Lee: The Forgotten Founder, Spy, and Diplomat Who Armed the Revolution
- The Virginia Gentry: America's Only Aristocracy and What We can Learn from Them
- The First and Forgotten Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee's Creation of America
- Founding Brothers: How One Generation of Lees Won the Revolution and Built America
- Father of Four Founding Fathers: Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall
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