Lee was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1778, and attended the common schools there.

He was born about the year 1600, came to New England, and settled at Agawam (now Ipswich), Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1635.

He moved first to New York City and then to Georgia, where he was in the mercantile business,[3] of the old firm of "Gideon Lee, Shepard Knapp and Charles M.

[4] Lee was elected as a Jacksonian to the 24th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Campbell P. White and served from November 4, 1835, to March 3, 1837.

[4] He was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840, voting for William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.