Orr, James Lawrence

Life Span
to
Full name
James Lawrence Orr
Place of Birth
Burial Place
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
South
Origins
Slave State
Education
University of Virginia
Occupation
Politician
Diplomat
Attorney or Judge
Journalist
Political Parties
Democratic
Republican
Government
Confederate government (1861-65)
Grant Administration (1869-77)
Diplomat
US House of Representatives
Governor
State judge
Military
Confederate Army

James Lawrence Orr (Congressional Biographical Directory)

Reference
ORR, James Lawrence, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Craytonville, Anderson County, S.C., May 12, 1822; attended the public schools, and was graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1842; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Anderson, S.C., in 1843; engaged in newspaper work; member of the State house of representatives 1844-1847; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1859); chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Thirty-third Congress); Speaker of the House of Representatives (Thirty-fifth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1858; resumed the practice of law at Craytonville; member of the southern rights convention held in Charleston, S.C., in 1851; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston in 1860; member of the secession convention in 1860; one of three commissioners sent to Washington, D.C., to treat with the Federal Government for the surrender of the forts in Charleston Harbor; Member of the Confederate Senate in 1861; served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; special commissioner sent to President Johnson to negotiate the establishment of provisional government for the State of South Carolina in 1865; member of the State constitutional convention in 1865; elected Governor of South Carolina as a Republican in 1866; president of the State convention at Columbia in July 1866; delegate to the Union National Convention at Philadelphia in August 1866; judge of the eighth judicial circuit 1868-1870; member of the Republican State convention in August 1872; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1872; appointed by President Grant as Minister to Russia in December 1872; died in St. Petersburg, Russia, May 5, 1873; interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Anderson, S.C.
“Orr, James Lawrence,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000104.
Date Event
The 35th Congress opens in Washington, DC with James Orr of South Carolina elected as Speaker
The 35th Congress returns from its ten day holiday recess
- The 35th Congress is in session in Washington, DC. from early January to mid-June, 1858
The 35th Congress ends its first session in Washington, DC. and adjourns until December
- The second session of the 35th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC
The second session of the 35th Congress opens in Washington, DC
The second session of the 35th Congress returns from its ten day holiday recess
Speaker of the House Orr and Congressman Hughes of Indiana exchange insults and almost come to blows in the U.S. Capital
The 35th Congress of the United States ends its term and adjourns
South Carolina's political leadership meets to decide on secession should Lincoln win the presidency
South Carolina's commissioners to the United States arrive and take up residence in Washington
South Carolina's commissioners to the United States present their credentials and explain their mission
President Buchanan replies to the South Carolina's commissioners as "private gentlemen"
President Johnson appoints Benjamin Franklin Perry as provisional governor of South Carolina
- In Philadelphia, Democrats and conservatives gather for the National Union Convention.
Governor Orr of South Carolina calls for South Carolina's rejection of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In Columbia, the South Carolina legislature overwhelmingly rejects the Fourteenth Amendment.
Chicago Style Entry Link
Leemhuis, Roger P. James L. Orr and the Sectional Conflict. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1979. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Orr, James Lawrence," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/6336.