January 22

[In this letter dated January 22, 1779, written from Williamsburg during my tenure as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Board of Visitors for the College of William and Mary, I address my intimate lifelong friend John Page, whom I have known since our college days. Our mutual friends had recently set us against one another as competing candidates to succeed Patrick Henry as the Governor of Virginia, a contentious political atmosphere intensified by the ongoing Revolutionary War. The small margin of votes between us threatened to breed public rumors of a personal rift, prompting this communication to reaffirm our enduring bond despite the surrounding political maneuvering. It is remarkable that within less than six months of resolving this potential strain on our friendship, I would ultimately win the subsequent election in June, succeeding Patrick Henry to become the second Governor of Virginia.]

I received your letter by Mr. Jamieson. It had given me much pain, that the zeal of our respective friends should ever have placed you and me in the situation of competitors. I was comforted, however, with the reflection, that it was their competition, not ours, and that the difference of the numbers which decided between us, was too insignificant to give you a pain, or me a pleasure, had our dispositions towards each other been such as to admit those sensations. I know you too well to need an apology for anything you do, and hope you will forever be assured of this; and as to the constructions of the world, they would only have added one to the many sins for which they are to go to the devil. As this is the first, I hope it will be the last, instance of ceremony between us. A desire to see my family, which is in Charles City, carries me thither to-morrow, and I shall not return till Monday. Be pleased to present my compliments to Mrs. Page, and add this to the assurances I have ever given you, that I am, dear Page, your affectionate friend.