by: Stanley L. Klos
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Henry Laurens
2nd President of the Continental
Congress of the United States of America
Served November 1, 1777 to December 9, 1778
Laurens
received attention from many friends, among whom, was Edmund Burke. Twice he
refused offers of pardon if he would serve the British ministry. While a
prisoner he learned of his son John's death in a skirmish in South Carolina, and
on 1 December, 1781, he addressed the following petition to the House of
Commons, in which he said:
THE RIGHT HONORABLE VISCOUNT STROMONT
THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD GEORGE GERMAINE
HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE
The underwritten
Representation and Prayer of Henry Laurens close Prisoner in the Tower of London
is with all possible respect and defense submitted.
1st That the
Representer was bred up in principle of Loyalty Love and Attachment to the Royal
House of Brunswick, & through all the Changes which have happened of late years
he hath never lost his affection to Great Britain.
Written
in the margin of the copy of this petition kept by Laurens wrote the following
(Opposite 1st) “ … it has been said he was
bred in republican principals and was a determined enemy of the Br. Govt.”
2nd. That in the Year
1756 0r 1757, he was elected one of the Representatives in the General Assembly
of South Carolina for Charles Town & regularly reappointed to the same Duty from
time to time till the unpropitios Epoch 1775.
3rd That in his Public
Character he never did nor consented to any Act derogatory to the Honor of the
Crown or repugnant to the Constitution of Great Britain -- that always to the
utmost of his, very limited, abilities, he supported the prerogative of the King
and true Interests of the people not deter'd by the stigma of "King's Man &
Governor's Man" sarcastically Affix'd to his character by some of his fellow
citizens for general proof of these facts, he dares appeal to several Noble
Lords & Honorable Gentlemen who have been Governors of So. Carolina and three
neighboring Provinces.
Opposite
3rd – “ That his republican principals
naturally led him into factious opposition to the K’s Go’v.”
4th. That his conduct
& actions in private life were strictly conformable to his profession in public.
5th That he was a
merchant upward of 20 years in very extensive commerce, that he never did in any
one instance willfully violate or infringe upon the Act of Navigation, which he
ever held as a sacred Pact between Great Britain and the Colonies; on the
contrary, he ever dicountenanced and as much as in him lay discouraged, every
attempt to illicit trade in the prejudice of Revenue and the Legal Rights of
Great Britain., although temptations to enter into such Trade have been held out
to him with the prospects of great gain by persons in this Kingdom, & once by a
Collector of his Majesty’s Customs with the highest probability of safety from
detection, of all which, he can give proof.
Opposite
5th – “that he had been one of the greatest
smugglers in
America, & always opposed & eluded Acts of Parliament for
regulating the Plantation Trade.”
6th. That in
the Year 1764 when it was intended to Tax America by stamp duties, altho’ the
act appeared to him to be unjust & he was convinced it was at least impolitic,
he recommended in the House Assembly of South Carolina, the Constitutional mose
of Petitioning and Treating for redress, in preference to the Novelty of a
general Congress and that he refused to Vote for Delegates to the Congress which
met in New York 1765.
Opposite
6th – “ That he had been a principal promter
of disturbances in
America in 1765 &ca.”
7th – That
in 1765 he was summon’d as a Member of Assembly to attend a public meeting of
the People, where he found the deliberations to be, upon means for seizing the
Stamp’d Paper just arrived in Charles Town and for awing the Officers appointed
to distribute it. That he express’d peremptory dissents to every proposition
leading to Violence and again strongly urg’d Petitions and expostulation,
pledging his whole Fortune that Petitions would be received received and
favorable discuss’d; that in resentment of his declarations on that occasion, he
was publicly charged as an Abettor of the Stamp Act, his House beset at Midnight
by a large Body of Arm’d Men, who under the pretence of searching for Stamp’d
Paper violently seized his person, threatened his Life, & greatly affrighted &
annoyed his family; but being unintimidated himself he would concede to note of
their very many propositions & demands, but he reiterated his recommendation to
Petition &ca again pledging his Life his reputation & Estate upon the Wisdom &
Justice of King & the Parliament of Great Britain.
8th - That
in the year 1767 or 1768, when the Colonists entered into General Resolutions
for counteracting the Internal Tax or Duty on Paper, Paint, Glass & Tea,
although the Representor had invariably deported himself as, in his judgment,
became a good Subject and Citizen, although he enjoyed the universal esteem of
the people as an honest Man & was class’d among the most wealthy, he was not
held to be a fit person in any Committee for enforcing those Resolutions.
“He was a King’s Man & had a predilection to Great Britain.”
9th – That
in the Year 1774 being in London, the Representer join’d with other American
Subjects in Petitions which were presented to the King & both Houses of
Parliament on American grievances. And being invited thereto when he deliver’d
one of those petitions, he had the honor of intimating his sentiments to the
Right Honorable Earl of Dartmouth, to this effect “that if the Bills
respecting America then pending in Parliament should pass into Acts the people
of the several Colonies from Georgia to New Hampshire would be animated to form
such an Union and Phalanx of resistance as he had theretofore believed nothing
less than a divine Miracle could establish.”
10th – That
in October 1774 he left London embarked for So. Carolina and arrived at Charles
Town early in December.
11th – That
upon his arrival, he was ask’d if he had not Petitioned the Kings Lords &
Commons & what Answers he had received? And a Memento was sounded in his Ears of
the Guarantee which he had so often taken upon him, & of his Pledges.
12th – That
he nevertheless anxiously wish’d & most ardently strove to confine the growing
dispute between this Kingdom & the Colonies within bounds admissible of an happy
reconciliation --- that for himself as an Individual, nothwithstanding the
Seeming injustice of Taxing America he would have submitted to the imposition in
preference to a breach with the Mother Country from an assurance in his own
mind that the certain impolicy & unprofitableness of the project, would after a
few Years experience in duce His Majesty’s Ministers to abandon it.
13th – That
before the commencement of hostilities he persisted in discountenancing all acts
of compulsion & violence towards Men who acted honestly & consistently, however
much they might differ from American Revolutionists in political tenets. And
that to every such person coming within his sphere, he extended consideration,
humanity, kindness.
Opposite
13th – “That he had been a most virulent
prosecutor of Loyalists whom he had greatly injur’d in many instances.
In one such instance of
his impartiality towards persons deem’d, “suspect’d & disaffected” he incurr’d
such displeasure and resentment as blig’d him to take the Field & stand up to be
shot at by a Youth who was Born after he had been a Father of Children, very
many men there are, some now in London who will bear testimony to these facts.
14th. -- That when a
motion was urg'd in an Assembly of the People of So. Carolina for prohibiting
the Payment of debts due m Great Britain, the Representer opposed the measure
to the utmost of his power, & finally declared, he would not hold himself bound
by a Resolution which his Conscience inform'd him was unjust and iniquitos. This
fact is well known by a Gentleman who was present at the time alluded to & now
in London.
Opposite
14th – “That he had proposed and effected
the resolution for nonpayment of debts due to Great Britain.”
15th. That after his
arrival at Charles Town as above mention'd he writ & continued writing to his
friends in England, lamenting the prospect which the times presented & pressing
for their exertions to avert the Evils which he predicted as consecutive to the
subsisting animosity. & so late as the 27th February 1776, in a letter to Will:
Manning Esquire, he express'd his feelings in the following terms.
"I weep for Great Britain, I love &
reverence her, but alas! I perceive I am to be seperated from her & that my
children are to be call'd by some new Name."
"The cry here is, 'let us resist against
violence, we cannot be worse off than we are, one Year more will enable us to be
Independent.' Ah! that word cuts me deep, I assure you I feign not, when I say
the bare expression has caus'd tears to trickle down my Cheeks; We wish not for
Independence, but Britain will force a seperation & Independence will soon
follow. "
"My Son will shew you a Pamphlet lately
publish'd in Philadelphia & republish'd here. (Common Sense on American Independence)
"The Doctrines contained in it are not
relish'd with us yet. AND NEVER WILL BE, if Great Britain will act Wisely
hereafter. "
He also writ to the same effect in a Letter
to Richard Oswald Esqr. which letter Mr. Oswald laid before Lord Dartmouth. The
Representer was unapprized of the line of seperation, which was at the time of
his writing drawn or drawing by an Act of Parliament.
16th. -- That in June I778. When an
Association was forming by the people of South Carolina for defence, & Articles
for that purpose reduced to writing to which the Representer was order'd to sign
first, he absolutely in the face of the People, refused to set his Name without
certain previous Reservations, which he then explain'd.
1st. Saving his Allegiance to the King.
2nd. Charity towards his friends & others
who might refuse to sign the Paper.
And here he cannot
forbear remarking that the then Lieutt. Governor, who as he is inform'd is
present Lieutt. Governor of So. Carolina. To whom the Articles had been tendre
for his signature, intimated his approbation of the measure & regretted that he
could not resign his Commission into proper hands & thereby qualifying himself
for signing the Association.
The Representer does
not introduce this as an invidious charge against Mr. Bull, his meaning is to
display to our Lordships the very high encouragement given to the People (some
of whom were doubting) to believe themselves right & to enter into a defensive
Band.
17th. That after the
actual commencement of Hostilities & open War declared by Actions on both sides,
the Representer persever'd in his attentions to honest & consistent
Nonconformists, not only to Individuals but to whole bodies of Quietists. He
also embraced every opportunity of alleviating the distresses of British
Prisoners of War, for many of whom he obtained Parole enlargement to work their
Exchanges, to others he lent or gave Money or other necessaries according to
their respective needs, & here he might produce a Cloud of Witnesses & among
others appeal to Civil Officers & Officers of the British Army & Navy, but he
forbears troubling Your Lordships with any more than the voluntary Declarations
of Capt. Lach: McIntosh & Capt. Peter Bachop, Copies of which will accompany
this.
18th. That since the
Representer's confinement in the Tower he has learned that many false & injurios
Reports respecting his conduct in America have been circulated & particularly
that Your Lordships have been induced to believe, he was a Promoter of a certain
Vote of the Assembly in So. Carolina for remitting £1500. Stg. in the Year 1769.
to the Society for supporting the Bill of Rights in London.
When that Vote pass'd,
he was 160. Miles distant from Charles To:vn & had received no premonition of
the intended Act, his first information of it was gathered from a News Paper
which he read in the Country & immediately in the presecense of divers persons
pass'd his Censure in very plain language “these Chaps will get a rap o’
knuckles for this, "
It is true he regretted
the mode of resentment afterward adopted by His Majesty’s Ministers which
manifestly threw an advantage into the hands of those persons who originally
were transgressors & who might have been easily & effectually check'd upon the
spot by constitutional applications Without giving any trouble to Ministry; the
Lt. Governor might even have prevented the Voter or Payment of the Money out of
the Treasury.
In vindication of
himself under this Charge he may appeal to the Right Honble General Conway & to
Charles Garth Esquire sometime Agent for So. Carolina.
In a word the
Representer never acted the Demagogue or Incendiary of the People, never
suggested or promoted any measure which could possibly be affrontive to His
Majesty or tend to disturb the order of good Government & he cannot forbear
contrasting the present circumstances of persons who did act in such Characters
& persecuted him as described above who are now treated as Prisoners of War &
also in possession of their Estates -with his own.
19th. That he was taken
Captive on the American Coast, & first landed upon American Ground where he saw
before his Eyes, Exchanges of American Prisoners in Negotiation, & enlargements,
one at least, granted upon Parol.
20th. That he has been
upwards of Eight Months & an half a Prisoner in the Tower, great part of that
time in very close & painful confinement, almost totally deprived of the company
of his nearest friends & relations & particularly of his Son, a Boy in his
Eighteenth Year.
21st. That he hath,
during his Imprisonment lived entirely at his own expense & now begins to need a
supply of Money for the further support of himself & his Son.
Grounded upon the
Premises the Representer humbly presumes to Pray. That Your Lordships will be
pleased in so far to mitigate the Rigor of his Imprisonment as,
First, to grant him the
use of Pen & Ink (which he is informed cannot be allowed with (sic) special
permission from Your Lordships) for. wntmg .a draught or draughts on a Merchant
in London John Nutt Esquire) who is indebted to him.
And secondly, to permit
his Son to visit him once twice or thrice as the Interesting occasion may
require for the sole purpose of consulting upon a Plan for the Young Man's
future conduct in Life. Together with such further indulgence, to Your Lordships
Wisdom & Goodness shall seem fitting.
In conclusion; as the
Representer & Petitioner enjoys not the benefit of the advice of Counsel, the
assistance of an Attorney or even of the optinion of a judicious friend & as he
is unpracticed in the Executive of forms of this kind, he implores Your Lordhips
indulgent construction & Interpretation upon any and every part of the
proceeding lines which to Your Lordships may appear censurable or exceptionable
& That Your Lordships will condescend to listen to him while he assures Your
Lordships that he regrets exceedingly the necessity which he finds himself under
to take up one Moment of you Lordships attention.
Henry Laurens
Tower of London, 23rd
June 1781.
The Lords never replied
to Laurens petition. He spent the summer of 1781 in the Tower reading Gibbons’
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” writing letters that drew
parallels with Great Britain that included first hand accounts of British
troops horrendous conduct in the America. These letters were circulated in Great
Britain, believed by many citizens and became a source of embarrassment for the
Parliament and King.
On October 8th
the two guards presented him with a bill for 97 pounds as payment for their
service for one year. His funds were exhausted and he replied
“Tis enough to provoke
me to change my lodging … If I were possessed of as many guineas as would fill
this room, I would not pay the warders, whom I never employed, and whose
attendance I shall be glad to dispense with. Attempts, sir, to tax men without
their consent, have involved this kingdom in a bloody seven years war. I
thought she had long since promised to abandon the project.”
He was soon
afterward exchanged for Lord Cornwallis and commissioned by Congress one of the
ministers to negotiate peace. He then went to Paris, where, with John Jay and
Benjamin Franklin, he signed the preliminaries of the Treaty of Paris, November
30th. 1782, and was instrumental in the insertion of a clause prohibiting the
British evacuation, the "carrying away any negroes or other property of the
inhabitants."
On his return
to Charleston he was welcomed with enthusiasm and offered many offices, which
his impaired health forced him to decline. He retired to his plantation near
Charleston and devoted his life to agriculture. His will concluded with this
request:
" I solemnly enjoin it on my son, as an indispensable duty, that, as soon as
he conveniently can, after my decease, he cause my body to be wrapped in twelve
yards of tow-cloth and burned until it be entirely consumed, and then,
collecting my bones, deposit them wherever he may think proper."
This was the first cremation in this country. Some of Laurens's
political papers have been published in the collections of the South Carolina
historical society, and his rebus letter to Lord George Gordon is reprinted in
the "Magazine of American History" (December, 1884).
Continental
Congress Military promotion stating "In Congress -- The Delegations of the
United States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to ... "
which was commonly used before the Articles of Confederation were ratifies. This
Military order is signed by Henry Laurens as President and Charles
Thomson as Secretary of the Continental Congress which was left undated and
blank. The conducting of the war under the un-ratified Articles of Confederation
actually proved to be a blessing for the new government. No President
circumvented the ineffective Articles more then Henry Laurens during those
thorny days of the Revolutionary War. Military Appointments and promotions were
the responsibility of the Confederation Congress but they were constantly on the
move during Laurens Presidency due to British battlefield successes which
included capturing Independence Hall. To expedite promotions and appointments
President Laurens and Secretary Thomson signed numerous blank
appointments leaving them to be filled out by the filed commanders. –
Courtesy of the author
The United Colonies 1st
government began in a Philadelphia Tavern
and the United States 1st federal government ended in a
NYC Tavern!
The Founders convened the government in 11 different capitol buildings and
experienced 15 years of challenges that
included war,
hyper-inflation, a failed
constitution, judicial corruption, armed citizen and U.S. Army rebellions.
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