Editing Henry Laurens (section)

==Political career==
[[File:Henry Laurens engraved portrait 1784 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|1784 engraving of Laurens as President of the Continental Congress]]
Laurens served in the militia, as did most able-bodied men in his time. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the [[Anglo-Cherokee War|campaigns against]] the [[Cherokee]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] in 1757–1761, during the [[French and Indian War]] (also known as the [[Seven Years' War]]).[[File:Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg|thumb|329px|''[[Treaty of Paris (painting)|Treaty of Paris]]'', by [[Benjamin West]], 1783 (left to right: [[John Jay]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], Henry Laurens, and [[William Temple Franklin]])]]
[[File:Slaves To-be-sold.jpg|thumb|Austin, Laurens & Appleby : ''Advertisement for the Sale of Slaves'']]In 1757, he was elected to South Carolina's colonial assembly. Laurens 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 sons' educations. 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 extensive correspondence with other members.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Henry+laurens&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|title = APS Member History}}</ref>

As the American Revolution neared, Laurens was at first inclined to support reconciliation with the [[United Kingdom|British Crown]]. But as conditions deteriorated, he came to fully support the American position.  When Carolina began to create a revolutionary government, Laurens was elected to the Provincial Congress, which first met on January 9, 1775.  He was president of the [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|Committee of Safety]] and presiding officer of that congress from June until March 1776.<ref>[[#force2|Force, 1837, Vol II]], pp. 1723-1724</ref>  When South Carolina installed a fully independent government, he served as the vice president of South Carolina from March 1776 to June 27, 1777. Laurens was first named a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]] on January 10, 1777.  He served in the Congress 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 the [[Netherlands]]. 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 frigate {{HMS|Vestal|1779|2}} intercepted his ship, the continental [[Packet boat|packet]] ''Mercury'',<ref>Tuchman</ref> off the banks of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]. Although his dispatches were tossed in the water, they were retrieved by the British, who discovered the draft of a possible U.S.-Dutch treaty prepared in [[Aachen|Aix-la-Chapelle]] in 1778 by [[William Lee (diplomat)|William Lee]] and the Amsterdam banker [[Jean de Neufville]].<ref name="Founders1789">{{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-03-02-0031 |website=Founders Online |title=From George Washington to Leonard de Neufville, June 29, 1789 |publisher=National Archives }}</ref>  This prompted Britain to declare war on the [[Dutch Republic]], becoming known as the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]].

The British charged Laurens with treason, transported him to England, and imprisoned him in the [[Tower of London]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Henry Laurens|access-date=January 21, 2025 |website=United States Senate|language=en|url=https://www.senate.gov/art-artifacts/fine-art/paintings/31_00010_000.htm}}</ref> (he is the only American to have been held prisoner in the tower). His imprisonment was protested by the 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]], a slave-trading island base in the [[Sierra Leone River]]. Oswald argued on Laurens's behalf to the British government. Finally, on December 31, 1781, he was released in exchange for General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Lord Cornwallis]] and completed his voyage to Amsterdam. He helped raise funds for the American effort.

Laurens's oldest son, Colonel [[John Laurens]], was killed in 1782 in the [[Battle of the Combahee River]], as one of the last casualties of the Revolutionary War. He had supported enlisting and freeing slaves for the war effort and suggested to his father that he begin with the 40 he stood to inherit.<ref name="Massey" />  He had urged his father to free the family's slaves, but although conflicted, Henry Laurens never manumitted his 260 slaves.<ref name="Massey">{{cite journal |url=http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2003_winter_spring/slavery_liberty.htm |first=Gregory D. |last=Massey |title=Slavery and Liberty in the American Revolution: John Laurens's Black Regiment Proposal |journal=Early America |date=Winter–Spring 2003 |access-date=2012-05-31 }}</ref><ref name="Finkelman">{{cite journal |url=http://studythepast.com/civilrightsundergraduate/materials/thomas%20jefferson%20and%20antislavery%20_%20the%20myth%20goes%20on%20_%20paul%20finkelman.pdf |first=Paul |last=Finkelman |title=Thomas Jefferson and Antislavery: The Myth Goes On |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=102 |issue=2 |date=April 1994 |page=211 |access-date=2011-03-14 }}</ref>

In 1783, Laurens was sent to Paris as one of the peace commissioners for the negotiations leading to the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]]. While he was not a signatory of the primary treaty, he was instrumental in reaching the secondary accords that resolved issues related to the Netherlands and Spain. [[Richard Oswald (merchant)|Richard Oswald]], a former partner of Laurens 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 positions. He did serve in the state convention of 1788, where he voted to ratify the United States Constitution.

[[Image:1784 HenryLaurens byJNorman BostonMagazine Sept.png|thumb|right|Portrait of Laurens, ''[[Boston Magazine (1783–1786)|Boston Magazine]],'' 1784; engraving by [[John Norman (publisher)|John Norman]]]]British forces, during their occupation of Charleston, had burned the Laurens home at [[Mepkin Abbey|Mepkin]] during the war. When Laurens and his family returned in 1784, they lived in an outbuilding while the [[great house]] was rebuilt. He lived on the estate the rest of his life, working to recover the estimated £40,000 that the revolution had cost him{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} (equivalent to about ${{Format price |{{To USD | {{#expr:{{Inflation|UK-GDP|40000|1784|r=2}}}} |GBR |year={{#expr:{{Inflation/year|UK-GDP}}}}}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK-GDP}}).{{Inflation/fn|UK-GDP}}