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.