Henry Laurens

American merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who becomes a political leader during the Revolutionary War

1724 CE to 1792 CE

Henry Laurens (March 6, 1724 [O.S. February 24, 1723] – December 8, 1792) is an American merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who becomes a political leader during the Revolutionary War.

A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeds John Hancock as President of the Congress.

He is a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and President of the Continental Congress when the Articles are passed on November 15, 1777.

Laurens earns great wealth as a partner in the largest slave-trading house in North America, Austin and Laurens.

In the 1750s alone, this Charleston firm oversees the sale of more than eight thousand enslaved Africans.

Laurens is for a time Vice-President of South Carolina and a diplomat to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War

He is captured at sea and imprisoned for some time by the British in the Tower of London.

His son John Laurens is a colonel in the Continental Army

 

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