ALS signed "Go: Washington,” one page, 7.25 x 9, July 10, 1784. Letter to the Reverend Lee Massey, in full: "I have been favored with your letter of June 30th—I thank you for the friendly style of it, & pray you to be assured that I shall, at all times, be glad to see you at Mount Vernon. Business, & old concerns of the War, with which I have now nothing to do, are still pressed upon me. This, and Company, has left me little leizure hitherto to look into matters which more immediately relate to myself—but finding it necessary, I mean to devote my forenoons to business, while I give the after part of the day to my friends, ’till I can (if that should ever be) bring my affairs into order again—With this indulgence from my friends, their visits can never be unseasonable—& none will be received with more pleasure than those of Mr. Massey." In good to very good condition, with trimmed edges, and heavy overall toning from complete (old) silking and backing; despite this, the letter remains bold and completely readable.
Washington and Rev. Massey, who was Washington’s pastor, were two of the twenty-five signers of the Fairfax Resolves in 1774, which rejected the British Parliament's claim of supreme authority over the American colonies; these were among the most influential and radical resolutions passed in the early days of the Revolution. At the end of the Revolution on December 23, 1783, the heroic General Washington resigned his commission and returned home to Mount Vernon, determined to return to private life. The newborn nation still demanded his time, however, and he would re-enter public life in 1787 by leading the Constitutional Convention, before being elected president of the United States in 1789. A remarkable letter penned in the aftermath of the American Revolution as Washington looked forward—he believed—to a quiet life at Mount Vernon.
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