President of the Continental Congress
Nov 1, 1777 - Dec 9, 1778
SON
John Laurens
(1754-1782)
Henry Laurens
(1724-1792)
Henry Laurens was an American Founding Father, merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeded John Hancock as its president. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and, as president, presided over its passage.
BORN:
Charleston, South Carolina
Mar 6, 1724
In 1744, Laurens was sent to London to augment his business training. This took place in the company of Richard Oswald. His father died in 1747, bequeathing a considerable estate to 23-year-old Henry. 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. 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.
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 Vestal intercepted his ship, the continental packet Mercury, off the banks of 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 Aix-la-Chapelle in 1778 by William Lee and the Amsterdam banker Jean de Neufville. 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. Finally, on December 31, 1781, he was released in exchange for General Lord Cornwallis and completed his voyage to Amsterdam. He helped raise funds for the American effort.
DIED:
Charleston, South Carolina
Dec 8, 1792
GRAVE:
CEMETERY
Laurens Family Cemetery
Mepkin Abbey Rd, Moncks Corner, SC 29461
Henry Laurens
was here...
Places | Image | Address | GPS | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Independence National Historical Park | 520 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106 | MUSEUM |