Born on December 1, 1769, in Charleston, Province of South Carolina, British America, Lee read law to enter the bar in 1790.
He was an associate judge on the Court of General Sessions and Common Pleas in Charleston from 1791 to 1792.
He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1796 to 1804, and was the legal cashier of that body in 1798, and its clerk in 1798, 1800 in 1802.
He was in private practice in Charleston from 1817 to 1823, briefly serving again in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1822.
Lee was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 17, 1823, and received his commission the same day.