Philadelphia May the 4th 1779
Sir,
A long, laborious, and almost unremitting attendance on public business by which I find my health decaying, renders some repose necessary, and compels me humbly to request that the honorable house of Delegates will accept the resignation of my appointment as a Member of Congress, and choose another gentleman to take my place in that Assembly.1Altho I am happy in seeing the independency of my country so well secured, yet, until it shall be perfectly established, I do not desire totally to withdraw from the public service, relaxation is all my wish; that so I may be enabled to engage again with renewed vigor of mind and body, in any manner that the voice of my country shall please to direct.
I have the honor to be Sir your most obedient and very humble servant,
Richard Henry Lee
Receiver’s copy, Executive Communications, Library of Virginia. Addressed: "Honorable Speaker of the Honorable House of Delegates at Williamsburg in Virginia."
1 Since Richard Henry had informed his brother Arthur in February that he planned to resign his seat in April, it appears that he delayed doing so until the recall vote on Arthur had been taken, which in fact occurred on 3 May. The issue having been decided, he apparently felt he could now withdraw from Congress, although the delegates had not yet voted on the recall of his brother William. He doubtless knew his presence on such a vote would be of little consequence for he had "excused" himself on the vote concerning Arthur and would probably have done so again had the recall motion on William come to a vote before he returned to Virginia. In any event, the other three Virginia delegates in attendance were voting solidly against the Lees on this issue. Although he sent his resignation to the Virginia assembly this day, he did not request leave of absence from Congress until 24 May. He departed Philadelphia for Virginia the following day. See Richard Henry Lee to Arthur Lee, 11 February and 23 May 1779 ; and JCC, 14:542 - 43, 643, 703 - 4.
With the receipt of Lee’s resignation on 15 May, the Virginia House of Delegates faced the prospect of an unprecedented turnover in the state’s congressional delegation, for only the previous week the house had had under consideration the recent resignations of three of Lee’s colleagues: Thomas Adams, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Thomas Nelson. In consequence, a move was quickly on foot to revise Virginia’s legislation on the election of delegates to Congress, and the revision was embodied in an act adopted on 11 June. When the annual election of delegates to Congress took place on June 17 - 18, a special election simultaneously resulted in the naming of William Fitzhugh, Gabriel Jones, James Mercer, and Edmund Randolph to represent the state "until the first Monday in November next, in the room of Francis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Nelson, jun., Thomas Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, Esquires, who have resigned." Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun . . . on Monday, the Third Day of May [1779] (Richmond: Printed by Thomas W. White, 1827), pp. 3 - 4, 9, 13, 20 - 22, 42, 51, 54 - 55; and William W. Hening, The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 13 vols. (Richmond: J. & G. Cochran, 1809 - 23), 10:74 - 75.