Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens (March 6, 1724^[1]–December 8, 1792) was an American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, the third President of the Second Continental Congress (November 1, 1777 - December 9, 1778), the Vice-President of South Carolina, and a diplomat.

Personal life

Henry was born to John and Esther Grasset Laurens in Charleston, South Carolina. According to the Julian calendar, Laurens was born on February 24, 1724; according to the Gregorian calendar, which was adopted in Britain and its colonies during Laurens' lifetime, he was born on March 6, 1724. His father was a saddler and his parents had come to Charles Town as part of the Huguenot immigration, drawn by the promise of religious liberty. His family prospered, and in 1744 Henry went to England where he learned the ways of commerce from a merchant who had formerly lived in Charleston.

Henry returned to Charleston in 1747. He entered the import and export business and became a prosperous merchant, slave trader, and planter. Laurens was the Charleston business agent for the London-based owners of Bunce Island, a British slave castle in the Sierra Leone River in West Africa. Laurens received slave ships arriving in Charleston, advertised the sale of slaves in the newspaper, organized the auctions, and took a 10% commission on each sale. He sold African slaves to local rice planters, but also purchased some for his own plantations. On June 25, 1750 he married Eleanor Ball, the daughter of another wealthy rice planter and slave owner. The couple would have twelve children. Eight died in infancy or childhood, but others achieved prominence.

• John Laurens served as a military aide to General Washington and was killed in the Revolutionary War. During the war, John proposed a plan under which a small number of slaves would be enlisted in the American forces and eventually granted their freedom. In a private letter, Henry gently sought to persuade John that this plan was impractical.^[2]
• Martha married David Ramsay, a physician, historian, and South Carolina Congressman.
• Henry Jr. married Eliza, the daughter of John Rutledge, and inherited his father's estate.
• Mary married Charles Pinckney and died in childbirth soon afterwards.

In 1772, Henry, like many successful American merchants began to buy farmland. He purchased 3,000 acres (12 km²) at Mepkin. Although he later bought another 20,000 acres (81 km²) including new rice-growing lands opening up in coastal Georgia, Mepkin became the family seat. By 1776 he had given up his mercantile ventures, although he always ran his plantations in a very business-like way.

Political career

1. General George Washington 2. General Horatio Gates 3. Dr. Benjamin Franklin 4. Präsid Laurens 5. John Paul Jones / D. Berger sculp. 1784.

Laurens served in the militia, as did most able bodied men in his time. He rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the campaigns against the Cherokee Indians in 1757-1761. 1757 also marked the first year he was elected to the colonial assembly. He was elected again every year but one until the revolution replaced the assembly with a state Convention as an interim government. The year he missed was 1773 when he visited England to arrange for his children's education. He was named to the colony's Council in 1764 and 1768, but declined both times. In 1772 he joined the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and carried on some extensive correspondence with other members.

As the American Revolution neared, Laurens first inclination was to support reconciliation with the British Crown. But as conditions deteriorated he came to fully support the American position. When Carolina began the creation of a revolutionary government, he was elected to the Provincial Congress which first met on January 9, 1775. He was president of the Committee of Safety, and presiding officer of that congress from June until March of 1776. When South Carolina installed a full independent government, he served as the Vice President of South Carolina from March of 1776 to June 27, 1777.

Henry Laurens was first named a delegate to the Continental Congress on January 10, 1777. He served in the Congress from then until 1780. He was the President of the Continental Congress from November 1, 1777 to December 9, 1778.

In the fall of 1779 the Congress named Laurens their minister to Holland. In early 1780 he took up that post and successfully negotiated Dutch support for the war. But on his return voyage to Amsterdam that fall the British Navy intercepted his ship and discovered the draft of a possible U.S.-Dutch treaty prepared by William Lee. This treaty was used as a reason for war between Great Britain and the Netherlands. Laurens was charged with treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. This became another issue between the British and Americans. In the field, most captives were regarded as prisoners of war, and while conditions were frequently appalling, prisoner exchanges and mail privileges were accepted practice. During his imprisonment Laurens was assisted by Richard Oswald, his former business partner and the principal owner of Bunce Island. Oswald argued on Laurens' behalf to the British government. Finally, on December 31, 1781 he was released in exchange for General Lord Cornwallis and completed his voyage.

In 1783 Laurens was in Paris as one of the Peace Commissioners for the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Paris. While he didn't sign the primary treaty, he was instrumental in reaching the secondary accords that resolved issues involving the Netherlands and Spain. Ironically, Richard Oswald, Laurens' old business partner in the slave trade, was the principal negotiator for the British during the Paris peace talks. Laurens generally retired from public life in 1784. He was sought for a return to the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and the state assembly, but he declined all of these jobs. He did serve in the state convention of 1788 where he voted to ratify the United States Constitution.

Later events

The British forces from Charleston had burned the main home at Mepkin during the war. When Henry returned in 1784, the family lived in an outbuilding while the manor was rebuilt. He lived there the rest of his life, working to recover the estimated £40,000 that the revolution had cost him. (This would be equivalent to about $3,500,000 in 2000 values.) He died at Mepkin, and afterward was cremated and his ashes were interred there. The estate at Mepkin passed through several hands, but large portions of the estate still exist, and are now a Trappist abbey.

The city of Laurens is named for him. General Lachlan McIntosh, who worked for Laurens as a clerk and became close friends with him, named Fort Laurens after him.

External links

• Laurens Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos
• Henry Laurens at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Mepkin Abbey web site
• Henry Laurens NNDB

References

1. ^ Laurens was born when Britain and her colonies still used the Old Style (O.S.) Julian calendar. After 1752 when the New Style (N.S.) Gregorian calendar came into effect, many important British-American dates were changed to reflect New Style. Both Laurens dates correctly reflect N.S.
2. ^ Henry Laurens to John Laurens, 6 February 1778, The Papers of Henry Laurens, XII: 412-413.

Additional reading

• Klos, Stanley L. (2004). Preisdent Who? Forgotten Founders. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Evisum, Inc., 261. ISBN 0-9752627-5-0. 
• Henry Laurens (Philip Hamer, editor); Papers of Henry Laurens, (10 volumes); 1915, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons.
• David D. Wallace. The Life of Henry Laurens: With a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens. 1967, Russell & Russell Publishers, ISBN 0-8462-1015-0.

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