Editing Patrick Henry (section)

== Leatherwood and the House of Delegates (1779–1784)==
At Leatherwood, Henry devoted himself to local affairs in the thinly-populated county and was given seats on the county court (the local governing body), as prominent landowners were, and on the parish vestry. He refused to be elected a delegate to Congress, stating that his personal business and past illness made that impossible. When Governor Jefferson sent a note to him in early 1780, Henry replied with gratitude, complaining of his isolation, and wrote of his many concerns about the state of affairs as the war continued. The freeholders of Henry County soon thereafter sent its [[eponym]] to the House of Delegates. But within weeks, health problems recurred, causing his return to Leatherwood.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=341–342}} While in Richmond (where the capital had been moved) Henry opposed a congressional plan to revalue [[Early American currency|Continental currency]] and impose certain taxes, feeling it would mostly benefit the North. He was successful in defeating it, but after he left Richmond, supporters persuaded the legislature to pass it.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=153–155}} Once he returned home, he was heavily involved in efforts to recruit local volunteers to suppress bands of [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] who were conducting raids in the frontier area. Henry rode with the troops, though he did not lead them, and they were generally successful in suppressing the resistance. The volunteers were disbanded in September 1780.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=245–247}}

In January 1781, British forces under the renegade former American general, [[Benedict Arnold]], sailed up the [[James River]] and captured Richmond with little opposition as Henry joined the other legislators and Governor Jefferson in fleeing to [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]]. Although Arnold soon withdrew to Portsmouth, in February, troops under [[Lord Cornwallis]] entered the state from North Carolina; the war, which had for the most part been fought out of state, would have many of its final moves played in Virginia. With Washington's army near New York, Henry sought to recruit soldiers to defend the state and in March helped draft an angry remonstrance from the House of Delegates to Congress, demanding help. Nevertheless, in May, British forces under Colonel [[Banastre Tarleton]] raided Charlottesville, nearly capturing the Virginia government, which fled to [[Staunton, Virginia|Staunton]].{{sfn|Kidd|pp=155–158}} There is a story that Henry fled with other prominent leaders and sought refuge at the home of a woman who initially spurned them as cowards for fleeing Charlottesville. But on learning Henry was with the group, she decided it must be all right, and offered them the best she had.{{sfn|Campbell|p=288}}

Jefferson did not go to Staunton: his term as governor had just expired, but the legislature had not met to hold an election. After the raid, he took refuge at his farm in [[Bedford County, Virginia|Bedford County]], and Virginia had no governor for ten days. Several legislators complained of Jefferson's actions and called for an inquiry into the conduct of the executive (Jefferson and his council), and Henry was among those who took the lead. The resolution passed, but the inquiry was set for the next session, and the legislature thought better of it.{{sfn|Campbell|pp=289–291}} Jefferson was angered at Henry's actions and held a grudge that did not abate until well after Henry's death in 1799.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=159–160}}

With the war effectively ended by the American victory at the [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|siege of Yorktown]], Henry served as delegate from his county through 1784, when he was elected again as governor. Peace brought many adjustments, and Henry sponsored legislation to reform Virginia's currency and to adjust payments from contracts still outstanding from before periods of high inflation. Jefferson and others wanted to reopen contracts that had been already settled but in depreciated currency; Henry thought that unjust, and because of his influence in the General Assembly, his version prevailed.<ref name = "a" />{{sfn|Campbell|pp=298–299}} This had international implications, as some of the creditors were British, who sought payment in hard money rather than the depreciated currency that had been paid into escrow.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=355–356}} At the May 1783 House of Delegates session, Henry successfully sponsored a resolution to repeal the trade embargo against Britain. That passed despite opposition from Speaker John Tyler Sr. Henry also introduced legislation to permit Loyalists to return to Virginia. There was considerable opposition to that, and the measure was held over until later in the year, by which time public sentiment had been gauged through meetings in each county. Henry spoke in the debate, asking "shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, be frightened of its whelps?"{{sfn|Kukla|pp=265–268}} Once it was amended (though in what way is not clear), the bill passed in November 1783.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=265–268}}

Henry worked together with James Madison, a delegate after three years in Congress, on a number of issues. They differed, though, on state support for Virginia's Protestant churches.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=356–359}} Madison, like Jefferson, desired a [[Separation of church and state|separation between church and state]] that meant no public financing of religion, but Henry believed that taxpayers who were Christians should be assessed for the maintenance of the Protestant church of their choice, financing an array of churches in the way that Anglicanism had been funded in Virginia until the start of the war. Henry was not alone in this belief; both Washington and Lee supported such plans. According to Thomas S. Kidd in his biography of Henry, "the general assessment plan is one of the main reasons Henry is not more widely esteemed as a Founder, for in this debate, he seems to have diverted from the progressive flow of history."{{sfn|Kidd|pp=167–168}} The General Assembly might well have passed the bill, but on November 17, 1784, the legislators elected Henry as governor. Madison believed that Henry took the position for family reasons—his wife and children were likely quite happy to be in Richmond rather than in remote Henry County—but the cost was Henry's bill as Madison got it postponed to the following year and eventually defeated. Instead, Madison got Jefferson's [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom|Statute for Religious Freedom]] through the legislature. This law requiring a separation of church and state passed the General Assembly in 1786.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=168–171}}