On May 11, 1825, Sharp was chosen to represent the Desha administration in welcoming the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution, to Kentucky. At a banquet in Lafayette's honor three days later, Sharp toasted the guest of honor: "The People: Liberty will always be safe in their holy keeping." Shortly following this event, Sharp resigned as attorney general, likely because Relief Party advocates thought he would be more useful as a member of the General Assembly. The Anti-Relief partisans nominated former Senator John J. Crittenden for one of the two seats apportioned to Franklin County in the state House. The Relief Party countered with Sharp and Lewis Sanders, a prominent area lawyer. During the sharply contested campaign, both John U. Waring and Patrick Henry Darby, a land speculator, said that Sharp's life was at risk if he won. Opponents revived the charges of Sharp's illegitimate child. It was also alleged that Sharp had claimed that the child was mulatto and said he had a certificate from Cooke's midwife to that effect; whether Sharp made this claim may never be known for certain. Despite the controversy, Sharp netted the most votes in the election, winning by 69 out of a total of 1600 votes cast in the county. "It was a land of the fiddle and whisky, sweat and prayer, pride and depravity. - Robert Penn Warren, "World Enough and Time: A Romantic Novel" (1950)  In the early hours of November 7, 1825, the day the General Assembly was to open its session, a man knocked on the door of Sharp's residence. When Sharp answered the door, the visitor grabbed him with his left hand and used his right to stab him in the heart with a poisoned dagger. Sharp died at approximately two o'clock in the morning. After lying in state in the House of Representatives Hall, he was buried in Frankfort Cemetery. Because of the bitterness of the campaign and the timing of the murder, speculation mounted that Sharp had been killed by an Anti-Relief partisan. For some time, rumors traveled that Darby was implicated in his death. Sharp's political rival, John J. Crittenden, tried to blunt such accusations by personally introducing a resolution condemning the murder and offering a $3000 reward for the capture of the assassin. The trustees of the city of Frankfort added a reward of $1000, and an additional $2000 reward was raised from private sources. In the 1825 session of the General Assembly, a measure to form Sharp County from Muhlenberg County died on the floor due to the tumultuous politics of the session.