James Lawrence Orr (May 12, 1822-May 5, 1873) was born at Craytonville, S.C. He graduated at the University of Virginia in 1841. He was an American politician who served as a Democratic Congressman from South Carolina from 1849 to 1859. He served as the Speaker of the House from 1857 to 1859.
Congressman Orr was an advocate of States rights who used his position of power to assist those persons who promoted the continuation of slavery. He foresaw the dreadful consequences of the decision by South Carolina to attempt to secede from the Union, but he remained loyal to that State. He was one of the three commissioners sent to Washington, D.C. to effect the transfer of property to the State of South Carolina.
Afterward, he organized and commanded Orr's Regiment of South Carolina Rifles, which saw little action before he resigned in 1862 and entered the Confederate Senate. At the end of the war, he was elected governor of the state of South Carolina as a Republican, and served as the governor of South Carolina from 1865 to 1868. He died in St. Petersburg, Russia shortly after being named Minister to Russia by President Ulysses S. Grant. He is interred in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Anderson, SC.
Preceded by: Nathaniel P. Banks Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives December 7, 1857 - March 3, 1859 Succeeded by: William Pennington
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