John L. McLaurin

Who was John L. McLaurin?

John Lowndes McLaurin was a United States Representative and Senator from South Carolina; born in Red Bluff, South Carolina, he attended schools at Bennettsville, South Carolina and Englewood, New Jersey as well as Bethel Military Academy and Swarthmore College He graduated from the Carolina Military Institute, studied law in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, was admitted to the bar in 1883 and practiced in Bennettsville. He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1890-1891 and was attorney general of the State from 1891 to 1897.

McLaurin was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Eli T. Stackhouse; he was reelected to the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses and served from December 5, 1892, until May 31, 1897, when he resigned. He was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joseph H. Earle and served from June 1, 1897, to March 4, 1903; he was not a candidate for reelection. He was censured along with Senator Benjamin Tillman for an altercation between the two on the Senate floor on February 22, 1902.