American Philosophical Society
Member History

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1Name:  Henry Laurens
 Year Elected:  1772
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  2/24/1724
 Death Date:  12/8/1792
   
 
Henry Laurens (24 February/6 March 1724–8 December 1792) was a planter-merchant, slave holder and trader, and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1772. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina to a wealthy family. In 1744 he apprenticed under a prominent London merchant for three years before returning to Charleston after his father died. With his inheritance, he opened up an export business dealing in deerskins, rice, rum, and slaves. He held 20,000 acres in plantation land as well as multiple residential properties. He accepted an election to the Assembly in 1757. Laurens believed that the crown did not respect the rights of its colonial citizens, declining an appointment to the Royal Council for this reason in 1764. However, he was also apprehensive of the growing revolutionary zeal; declaring his fealty to British law after the Sons of Liberty raided his basement during the Stamp Act crisis in 1765. As tensions between Britain and the Colonies increased, his sympathies shifted towards independence: in 1774 he joined the first South Carolina congress, became its president in 1775, and in 1776 he fought to defend Charleston. Seeing the inconsistency in his claim of exploitation by the hands of the British and his own slave-holding, Laurens freed the hundreds of enslaved people working on his plantation. He was a delegate to the continental congress from 1777 to 1779, also serving as its president from 1777-1778. In 1780 British naval forces captured him at sea, en route to the Netherlands. The crown charged him with treason and held him in the tower of London. In captivity, his health declined before Benjamin Franklin secured his release in 1781. Still, Laurens joined Franklin at the peace conference in Paris before returning to New York in 1784. His now failing health along with the news of his son’s death at the hands of British forces weighed on him until his death. Rather unusually, he requested that his former slaves build and ignite his funeral pyre. (ANB, DNB)
 
Election Year
1772 (1)