Home › L › Laurens (HENRY an American statesman)

Laurens (HENRY an American statesman)

HENRY, an American statesman; born in Charleston, S. C., in 1724. Descended from a French Huguenot family, he early realized a fortune in business. On the outbreak of the American Revolution, Laurens, in 1776, was elected a delegate from his native State to the Continental Congress, and became its president, which office he held till the close of 1778. Next year, being appointed minister-plenipotentiary to Holland, he was captured on his way thither by a British frigate, and taken to London, where he was confined as a prisoner in the Tower; and his papers having proved the complicity of Holland in the colonial revolt, a war between Great Britain and Holland followed. On his release, Laurens was appointed one of the commissioners for negotiating peace, and proceeded to Paris, where, Nov. 30, 1782, he, conjointly with Franklin and Jay, signed the preliminaries of the the treaty. Died in Charleston, Dec. 8, 1792.