American merchant and philanthropist who was a major developer of the New England textile industry. He led in founding the town of Lawrence, Mass., named in his honour, and built several mills there, making it a textile centre.

Lawrence joined his brother, Amos Lawrence (1786–1852), in business in Boston in 1808, and together they founded in 1814 the firm of A. and A. Lawrence, which became one of the largest American mercantile houses of the time. Starting as a retailer of English and then exclusively American textiles, he began manufacturing in 1830, building large cotton and wool cloth mills in Lawrence in 1845. He also promoted New England railways, chiefly the line between Boston and Albany, N.Y.

A popular advocate of New England business interests, Lawrence was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1835–37, 1839–40) and was U.S. minister to Great Britain (1849–52). His donations established the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University. Amos Lawrence's son, Amos Adams Lawrence (1814–86), founded Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and a college in Lawrence, Kan., named in his honour, which became the University of Kansas in 1866.