Editing Henry Laurens

{{Short description|American Founding Father, slave trader, and merchant}}
{{about||the Arabist|Henry Laurens (scholar)|similar names|Henry Laurence (disambiguation){{!}}Henry Laurence}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Henry Laurens
| image = henry laurens.jpg
| caption = Laurens depicted by [[Lemuel Francis Abbott]], 1781 or 1784
| order =
| office = 5th [[President of the Continental Congress]]
| term_start = November 1, 1777
| term_end = December 9, 1778
| predecessor = [[John Hancock]]
| successor = [[John Jay]]
|office1 = [[Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina|Vice President of South Carolina]]
|term_start1 = March 26, 1776
|term_end1 = June 27, 1777 
|president1 = [[John Rutledge]]
|predecessor1 = ''Office Established''
|successor1 = [[James Parsons (South Carolina politician)|James Parsons]]
| office2 = [[Governor of South Carolina|President of the <br />
South Carolina Committee on Safety]]
|term_start2 = January 9, 1775
|term_end2 = March 26, 1776
|predecessor2 = [[Lord William Campbell|William Campbell]] <br />
<small>As governor of South Carolina</small>
|successor2 = [[John Rutledge]] <br />
<small>As president of South Carolina</small>
|monarch2 = [[George III]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1724|3|06|mf=y}}
| birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[Province of South Carolina]]}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1792|12|8|1724|3|06}}
| death_place = {{nowrap|[[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], U.S.}}
| signature = Henry Laurens Signature.svg
|spouse             = Eleanor Delamere Ball Laurens (m. 1750; d. 1770)
|children = 13 or more, including [[John Laurens]], [[Martha Laurens Ramsay]], Henry Laurens, Jr., and Mary Eleanor Laurens Pinckney}}
[[Image:Henry Laurens in National Portrait Gallery IMG 4473.JPG|200px|thumb|Portrait of Laurens by [[John Singleton Copley]] (U.S. [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] NPG.65.45)]]

'''Henry Laurens''' ({{OldStyleDateDY|March 6,|1724|February 24, 1723<!--OS New Year began March 25-->}}{{spaced ndash}}December 8, 1792) was an American [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]],<ref name=Kelly>{{cite journal|last1=Kelly|first1=Joseph P.|date=April 2006|title=Henry Laurens: The Southern Man of Conscience in History|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27570804|journal=The South Carolina Historical Magazine|volume=107|issue=2|pages=82–123|doi=|jstor=27570804 |access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2020/05/henry-laurens-the-founding-father-who-was-imprisoned-in-the-tower-of-london/|title=Henry Laurens, the Founding Father Who Was Imprisoned in the Tower of London|last=Brammer|first=Robert|date=May 13, 2020|website=loc.gov|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/08/the-tragedy-of-henry-laurens/|title=The Tragedy of Henry Laurens|last=Neville|first=Gabriel|date=August 1, 2019|website=allthingsliberty.com|publisher=Journal of the American Revolution|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref>  merchant, slave trader, and rice [[Planter class|planter]] from [[South Carolina]] who became a political leader during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. A delegate to the [[Second Continental Congress]], Laurens succeeded [[John Hancock]] as its [[president of the Continental Congress|president]]. He was a signatory to the [[Articles of Confederation]] and, as president, presided over its passage.

Laurens had earned great wealth as a partner in the largest [[History of slavery|slave-trading]] house in North America, Austin and Laurens. In the 1750s alone, this Charleston firm oversaw the sale of more than 8,000 enslaved Africans.<ref name=Brown>{{cite web |url=http://www.brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/documents/SlaveryAndJustice.pdf |title=Slavery and Justice: Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice |publisher=Brown University |date=October 2006 }}</ref> Laurens served for a time as vice president of South Carolina and as the United States minister to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War. He was captured at sea by the British and imprisoned for a little more than a year in the [[Tower of London]]. His oldest son, [[John Laurens]], was an ''[[aide-de-camp]]'' to [[George Washington]] and a colonel in the [[Continental Army]].

==Early life and education==
Laurens's forebears were [[Huguenots]] who fled France after the [[Edict of Nantes]] was revoked in 1685. His grandfather Andre Laurens left earlier, in 1682, and eventually made his way to America, settling first in New York City and then [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. Andre's son John married Hester (or Esther) Grasset, also a Huguenot refugee. Henry was their third child and eldest son. John Laurens became a saddler, and his business eventually grew to be the largest of its kind in the colonies.<ref name="enc">{{cite encyclopedia  |entry=Laurens, Henry (1724–1792) |encyclopedia=American Eras |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/laurens-henry-1724-1792 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422202040/https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/henry-laurens |archive-date=2018-04-22 }}</ref>

In 1744, Laurens was sent to London to augment his business training.<ref name="enc"/> This took place in the company of [[Richard Oswald (merchant)|Richard Oswald]].<ref>Gillespie, p.20</ref> His father died in 1747, bequeathing a considerable estate to 23-year-old Henry.<ref name="enc"/>

==Marriage and family==
Laurens married Eleanor Ball, also of a South Carolina rice planter family, on June 25, 1750. They had thirteen children, many of whom died in infancy or childhood.<ref>Wallace, p.180</ref> Eleanor died in 1770, one month after giving birth to their last child. Laurens took their three sons to England for their education, encouraging their oldest, [[John Laurens]], to study law. Instead of completing his studies, John Laurens returned to the United States in 1776 to serve in the American Revolutionary War.

==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}}

==Death and legacy==
Laurens suffered from gout starting in his 40s and the affliction plagued him throughout the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.alphaomegaalpha.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2007-2-Duke.pdf|title=Gout, an American Revolutionary War Statesman, and the Tower of London|author=Martin Duke MD|journal=The Pharos|date=Spring 2007|access-date=March 9, 2022}}</ref> Laurens died on December 8, 1792, at his estate, Mepkin, in South Carolina. In his will he stated he wished to be cremated and his ashes be interred at his estate.<ref>[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vZy1RUu59Ko/UFp3Q2CjObI/AAAAAAAAA_M/tjtsoVR-27M/s1600/laurens+grave.jpg Laurens cenotaph at Mepkin]</ref> It is reported that he was the first Caucasian cremation in the United States, which he chose because of a fear of being buried alive.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Prothero|first=Stephen R.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49570142|title=Purified by fire : a history of cremation in America|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92974-6|location=Berkeley|pages=9–10|oclc=49570142}}</ref> Afterward, the estate passed through several hands. Large portions of the estate still exist. Part of the original estate was donated to the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in 1949 and is now the location of [[Mepkin Abbey]], a monastery of the  [[Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance]] ([[Trappists|Trappist monks]]).<ref name=MepkinPlantation>{{cite web|url=https://south-carolina-plantations.com/berkeley/mepkin.html|title=Mepkin Plantation, Moncks Corner, Berkeley County|website=south-carolina-plantations.com|publisher=South Carolina Plantations|access-date=April 25, 2022}}</ref>

The city of [[Laurens, South Carolina]], and [[Laurens County, South Carolina|its county]] are named for him. [[Laurens (town), New York|The town]] and [[Laurens (village), New York|the village]] of Laurens, New York, are named for him.<ref name="Otsego">{{cite web|date=October 1998|title=Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Laurens|url=http://www.otsegocounty.com/depts/pln/documents/ComprehensivePlan_004.pdf|access-date=2012-11-18|website=Otsego County|publisher=Otsego County Planning Department|location=[[Cooperstown, New York]]|page=4|quote=The town of Laurens ... was formed in 1811 ... and named after Henry Laurens, a hero of the Revolutionary War|archive-date=10 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710125424/http://www.otsegocounty.com/depts/pln/documents/ComprehensivePlan_004.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Laurens County, Georgia]], is named for his son John. General [[Lachlan McIntosh]], who worked for Laurens as a clerk and became close friends with him, named [[Fort Laurens]] in Ohio after him.

==Notes==
<references />

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Gillespie |first=Joanna Bowen |title=The Life and Times of Martha Laurens Ramsay, 1759–1811 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EAjMOu1qnE0C&pg=PA20 |year=2001 |publisher=Univ. of South Carolina Press |isbn=9781570033735}}
* {{cite book | last=Tuchman |first=Barbara |title=First Salute: A View of the American Revolution |year=1988 | url=https://archive.org/details/firstsalute00tuch | url-access=registration |publisher=Random House }}
* {{cite book |title=The Life of Henry Laurens: With a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |last=Wallace |first=David Duncan |year=1915|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.171269/page/n1/mode/2up}}

==Sources==
* Kirschke, James J., and Victor J. Sensenig. "Steps toward nationhood: Henry Laurens (1724–92) and the American Revolution in the South" ''Historical Research'' 78.200 (2005): 180–192
* {{cite book |last=Laurens |first=Henry |others=editor: Frank Moore; contributor: [[Library of Congress]] |title=Correspondence of Henry Laurens of South Carolina |url=https://archive.org/details/correspondenceof00laur/mode/2up |year=1861 |publisher=M.A. Moore (printed for the Zenger Club) |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Laurens |first=Henry |others=editors: Philip May Hamer, George C Rogers, [[David R. Chesnutt]] |title=Papers of Henry Laurens |url=https://archive.org/details/papersofhenrylau0002laur |url-access=registration |year=1972 |publisher=Univ. of South Carolina Press |location=Columbia, S.C. |isbn=1-57003-465-6 |oclc=63771927 }}, 16 vols.; [http://www.hsp.org/files/findingaid0356laurens.pdf Collection Inventory] available at the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]].
* McDonough, Daniel J. ''Christopher Gadsden and Henry Laurens: The Parallel Lives of Two American Patriots''  (Susquehanna University Press, 2001)
* Neville, Gabriel. [https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/08/the-tragedy-of-henry-laurens/ "The Tragedy of Henry Laurens."] ''Journal of the American Revolution'', Aug. 1, 2019
* {{cite book |last=Force |first=Peter |title=American archives : consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters  |volume=II |authorlink=Peter Force |publisher=Washington |year=1837 |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/americanarchives42forc/page/n9/mode/2up |ref=force2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Henry Laurens}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{CongBio|L000121}}
* [https://www.nps.gov/chpi/learn/historyculture/henry-laurens.htm National Park Service: Henry Laurens Biography]
* [http://www.HenryLaurens.com Forgotten Founders Biography site]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOca6rDBFzQ Henry Laurens, South Carolina Hall of Fame], [[South Carolina Educational Television]]
* [https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/content/henry-laurens-account-book-1766-1773/ Henry Laurens Account Book, 1766-1773, Lowcountry Digital Library]
* [http://www.friendsoffortlaurens.org/Henry_Laurens_/henry_laurens_.html Friends of Fort Laurens]

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Hancock]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the Continental Congress]]|years=November 1, 1777{{spaced ndash}}December 9, 1778}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Jay]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{Presidents of the Continental Congress}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurens, Henry}}
[[Category:1724 births]]
[[Category:1792 deaths]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Netherlands]]
[[Category:American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain]]
[[Category:18th-century American planters]]
[[Category:18th-century American slave traders]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:Prisoners in the Tower of London]]
[[Category:Merchants from colonial South Carolina]]
[[Category:Huguenot participants in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Colonial South Carolina]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from South Carolina]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:People from pre-statehood South Carolina]]
[[Category:People of South Carolina in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:People of South Carolina in the French and Indian War]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of South Carolina]]
[[Category:Signers of the Articles of Confederation]]
[[Category:Cremation]]
[[Category:Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglicans]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]
[[Category:Diplomats from South Carolina]]
[[Category:18th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]