Laurens, Henry, as President of the Continental Congress

The Resignation of the Honorable Henry Laurens Esq President of Congress. In Congress on Wednesday 9 Dec[ember] 1778.



Manuscript document in the hand of William Whipple, 4 pages (12 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.; 324 x 200 mm), [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], 1778; formerly folded, lightly soiled. Green half-morocco clamshell box.

Letter of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, vol. 11, pp. 312-315

formerly folded, lightly soiled
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Laurens' Resignation Speech as President of the Continental Congress, in the hand of William Whipple.

Henry Laurens (1724-1792), best known for negotiating the 1783 Treaty of Paris, was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1777 until 1780, and President of the Congress from November 1777 until the date of this speech. Silas Deane (1737-1789) had just been recalled from France where he had been engaged in negotiating for commercial treaties and military supplies. He was required to answer charges raised by his fellow commissioner Arthur Lee, that he had arranged for these supplies at no cost, and had kept the funds given him for the purpose (see Lot 852).

Laurens' sudden decision to resign was provoked by Congress' proceedings in the previous two days over Silas Deane's request for a hearing, which Laurens tried to prevent because of Deane's taking his case to the public in the Pennsylvania Packet of 5 December. Laurens considered Deane's publication of his address "To the Free and Virtuous Citizens of America" as "highly derogatory to the honor and interests of the United States." His decision was no doubt aided by mounting frustration with the delegates' failure to discipline General William Thompson for his public defamation of Thomas McKean.

"I view the performance in question as an act unbecoming the character of a public servant ... I feel my own honor, and much more forcibly the honor of the public, deeply wounded by Mr. Deane's address ... I am determined to continue a faithful and diligent labourer in the cause of my country, and at the hazard of life, fortune and domestic happiness, to contribute by every means in my power to the perfect establishment of our independence. I shall have less cause to regret the carrying my intended purpose into effect, foreseeing that you may immediately fill with advantage the vacancy which will presently happen ... Finally, gentlemen, for the consideration above mentioned, as I cannot consistently with my own honor nor with utility to my country, considering the manner in which business is transacted here, remain any longer in this chair, I now resign it."

Laurens circulated several copies of his speech among colleagues in Philadelphia that survive; there are also two copies in the hand of Moses Young, and the present copy by William Whipple (1730-1785), signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Hampshire.