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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—New Hampshire

John LANGDON

(1741-1819)

Senate Years of Service:

1789-1793; 1793-1795; 1795-1801

Party:

Pro-Administration; Anti-Administration; Democratic Republican

LANGDON, John, (brother of Woodbury Langdon), a Delegate and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Portsmouth, N.H., June 26, 1741; attended the local grammar school; served an apprenticeship as a clerk, went to sea, and engaged in mercantile pursuits; a prominent supporter of the revolutionary movement and active in the Revolutionary War; a representative in the general court; Member of the Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776; resigned in June 1776 to become agent for Continental prizes and superintended the construction of several ships of war; served several terms as speaker of the State house of representatives, and during the session of 1777 staked his fortune to equip an expedition against the British; participated in the Battle of Bennington and commanded a company at Saratoga and in Rhode Island; member, State senate 1784; President of New Hampshire 1785, 1788; again a Member of the Continental Congress in 1787; delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1787; member of the State ratifying convention; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1801; elected the first President pro tempore of the Senate on April 6, 1789, in order that the Senate might organize to count the electoral vote for President and Vice President of the United States; also served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Second Congress; declined to accept the portfolio of Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Thomas Jefferson in 1801; member, New Hampshire legislature from 1801-1805, the last two terms as speaker; Governor of New Hampshire 1805-1811, with the exception of 1809; declined the nomination as a candidate for vice president in 1812; died in Portsmouth, N.H., September 18, 1819; interment in the Langdon tomb in the North Cemetery.