19 Facts About Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and, as president, presided over its passage.

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

Henry Laurens served for a time as vice president of South Carolina and as the United States minister to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War.

Henry Laurens was captured at sea by the British and imprisoned for a little more than a year in the Tower of London.

Henry Laurens's oldest son, John Laurens, was an aide-de-camp to George Washington and a colonel in the Continental Army.

Henry Laurens' forebears were Huguenots who fled France after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685.

John Henry Laurens became a saddler, and his business eventually grew to be the largest of its kind in the colonies.

In 1744, Henry Laurens was sent to London to augment his business training.

Henry Laurens's father died in 1747, bequeathing a considerable estate to 23-year-old Henry.

Henry Laurens took their three sons to England for their education, encouraging their oldest, John Henry Laurens, to study law.

Henry Laurens served in the militia, as did most able-bodied men in his time.

Henry Laurens was elected again every year but one until the Revolution replaced the assembly with a state convention as an interim government.

Henry Laurens was named to the colony's council in 1764 and 1768 but declined both times.

Henry Laurens 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.

Henry Laurens had urged his father to free the family's slaves, but although conflicted, Henry Laurens never manumitted his 260 slaves.

In 1783, Henry Laurens was sent to Paris as one of the peace commissioners for the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Paris.

Henry Laurens 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.

Henry Laurens did serve in the state convention of 1788, where he voted to ratify the United States Constitution.

Henry Laurens suffered from gout starting in his 40s and the affliction plagued him throughout the rest of his life.