John Laurance

John Laurance (* 1750 near Falmouth , England ; † November 11, 1810 in New York City , New York ) was an English- American lawyer and politician ( Federal Party ) who participated as a delegate from New York at the Continental Congress and later also from this state represented in both houses of Congress .

Originally from Cornwall , John Laurance emigrated to America in 1767 and settled in New York City. After completing his school education, he studied law , after which he was admitted to the bar in 1772 and began practicing as a lawyer in his new hometown. After the outbreak of the War of Independence , he joined the Continental Army in 1775 , in whose ranks he held the office of Judge Advocate General from 1777 to 1782 . As chief military judge , he presided over the case against Major John André , who was sentenced to death for espionage for the British and hanged .

As a result, Laurance was politically active. As a representative of Westchester County , he sat from 1782 to 1783 in the New York State Assembly ; between 1784 and 1785 he was a member of this Chamber of Parliament for New York County . From 1785 to 1787 he was a delegate to the Continental Congress, which was meeting in New York at the time. This was followed by a term in the New York Senate from 1788 to 1790. By this time Laurance had already taken up his mandate as a member of the House of Representatives of the 1st Congress ; after a change in the law that prohibited the simultaneous exercise of several mandates at state and federal level, he resigned as state senator. He was a member of the Congress from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1793 after re-election.

On May 5, 1794, Laurance was nominated by US President George Washington to succeed the resigned James Duane as a judge at the federal district court for the district of New York; the next day it was confirmed by the US Senate . He held this office until November 8, 1796, when he resigned after the New York Legislature had elected him a US Senator. The by-election was made necessary by the resignation of Rufus King . Laurance moved into the Senate on December 8 of the same year and remained there until his resignation in August 1800. During this time, he served as Senate President pro tempore from December 6 to 27, 1798 . He died in New York ten years after his resignation.

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personal data
SURNAME	Laurance, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English-American lawyer and politician (Federal Party)
DATE OF BIRTH	1750
PLACE OF BIRTH	near Falmouth , England
DATE OF DEATH	November 11, 1810
Place of death	New York City , New York