South Carolina Hall Of Fame: Henry Laurens

Born in Charleston, South Carolina a Revolutionary War era statesman and diplomat, Henry Laurens was elected to the First Provincial Congress of South Carolina in 1775 and to the Continental Congress in 1777 where he was elected president. His two greatest achievements during his tenure were the securing of the French alliance and the signing of the Articles of the Confederation. Named by Congress in 1779 to negotiate a treaty with the Netherlands, he was captured at sea and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Exchanged for Lord Cornwallis after Yorktown, he signed preliminaries of the peace treaty with England in Paris in 1782.