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Senate Years of Service: 1789-1793; 1793-1795; 1795-1801 Party: Pro-Administration; Anti-Administration; Democratic Republican
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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.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography;
Mayo, Lawrence. John Langdon of New Hampshire. 1932. Reprint. New York:
Kennikat Press, l970.
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