William Lawrence (Ohio Republican)

In 1857, Lawrence was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and of the District Court, serving until he resigned in 1864. In 1862, he entered the Union Army as colonel of the 84th Ohio Infantry, a three-month regiment. In 1863, Lawrence was appointed to serve as the wartime judge for the United States district court in Florida; however, he declined the appointment.[2]

On March 4, 1865, William Lawrence was inaugurated as the U.S. Representative for the 4th district of Ohio, having been elected to this office the previous November. He supported the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment, stating in an 1866 speech that it would "protect every citizen, including the millions of people of foreign birth who will flock to our shores to become citizens and to find here a land of liberty and law."[6]

In 1866, Lawrence introduced a bill creating the Territory of Lincoln from the land that is now Oklahoma.[7] (This is not to be confused with the State of Lincoln proposal made in 1869 for southern Texas, nor the Lincoln proposed for the Pacific Northwest.) Lawrence reintroduced the bill in 1867.[7] The proposal was that all territorial officers and voters would initially be “American citizens of African descent,” and the territorial legislature could later choose to change eligibility.[7] However, neither bill got out of committee.[7]

Lawrence served in the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses, ending his third term on March 3, 1871.[1] As Representative, Lawrence was among the authors of the bill of impeachment against U.S. President Andrew Johnson in 1868.[8]

In 1867, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Lawrence directed an inquiry into the creation of a "law department" headed by the Attorney General and composed of the various department solicitors and district attorneys. On February 19, 1868, Lawrence authored the bill that ultimately created the United States Department of Justice. However, this first bill died in Congress due to the Congress's (and Lawrence's) concern with the impeachment of President Johnson.

In the following Congress, the issue was brought back to the table. Representative Thomas Jenckes of Rhode Island introduced a bill to create the Department of Justice on February 25, 1870. Though Lawrence did not write this bill, it incorporated many of the ideas from Lawrence's previous bill, and he gave the bill his full support. On June 22, 1870, President Ulysses Grant signed this second bill into law, creating the Department of Justice.[9]

Returning to Bellefontaine in 1871, Lawrence founded the Bellefontaine National Bank[1] (acquired by Huntington National Bank in 1977[10]), and served as its first president. He returned to Congress in 1873, this time from the 8th Ohio Congressional district. Lawrence served in the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses, and completed his fifth and final term on March 3, 1877. During this service, Lawrence was the chairman of the Committee on War Claims arising from the American Civil War.[1]

Lawrence was appointed by President Rutherford B Hayes in 1880 to serve as the First Comptroller of the Treasury, a post he held until 1885. Lawrence then appealed on behalf of Clara Barton to Hayes' successor, James Garfield, to support the creation of the American Red Cross on May 21, 1881. He then served as the organization's first Vice President.[4][11] Lawrence and Barton were also instrumental in persuading the United States to ratify the Geneva Convention in 1882.

In 1891, Lawrence was appointed President of the National Wool Growers Association. He died on May 8, 1899 in Kenton, Ohio. Lawrence is interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery in Bellefontaine, Ohio.[1] The small Ohio community of Lawrenceville is named for him.