In the period leading up to the American Revolution, Arthur Lee published a series of letters in English newspapers protesting British Parliament's actions toward America. These letters earned him wide repute as a patriot and, in 1775, he was asked by the Continental Congress to become a confidential correspondent in London. During the conflict, he acted as an unofficial envoy for the American cause, negotiating several treaties with foreign powers. He was one of the commissioners of the United States at the first treaty with France. John Trumbull painted his portrait in 1790 in New York City during an intense period of portrait-gathering. Trumbull portrayed Lee among the members of Congress in The Resignation of General Washington (1832.8), where he is seated seventh to the left of Washington. This miniature may also have been intended for Trumbull's unexecuted Treaty of Peace.