John Laurance: Information from Answers.com

John Laurance (1750 near Falmouth, England – November 11, 1810 New York City) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

He read law and entered private practice in 1772 in New York City. He joined the Continental Army in 1775, and was Judge Advocate General from 1777 to 1782. He was a member of the board that convicted Maj. John André of spying and sentenced André to be executed by hanging.

He was a member from Westchester County of the New York State Assembly in 1782-83, and from New York County in 1784-85. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787. He was a member of the New York State Senate (Southern District) from 1788 to 1790, but vacated his seat after the Legislature enacted in January 1790 a law that made it impossible to be a member of Congress and the State Legislature at the same time.

Laurance was elected as a Federalist to the 1st and 2nd United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793.

Laurance was nominated by George Washington to the federal bench on May 5, 1794, to the seat vacated by James Duane on the United States District Court for the District of New York. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 6, and received his commission on the same day. He resigned from the bench on November 8, 1796, after his election as U.S. Senator from New York. He took his seat on December 8, 1796, but resigned from the Senate in August 1800.

References

• John Laurance at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 62, 113f, 142, 161f and 287; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [gives surname as "Lawrence"]
• Members of the 4th U.S. Congress
• Members of the 6th U.S. Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by (none)	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd congressional district 1789 - 1793	Succeeded by John Watts
United States Senate
Preceded by Rufus King	United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1796 - 1800 Served alongside: Aaron Burr, Philip Schuyler, John S. Hobart, William North, James Watson, Gouverneur Morris	Succeeded by John Armstrong, Jr.
Political offices
Preceded by Theodore Sedgwick	President pro tempore of the United States Senate December 6–27, 1798	Succeeded by James Ross