LANGDON, JOHN (17411819)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 172 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: KRO-LAP

LANGDON, JOHN (17411819) , American statesman, was born in Portsmouth, New

Hampshire

HAMPSHIRE (or COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON, abbreviated HANTS)

, on the 25th of June 1741. After an apprenticeship in a counting-

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, he led a seafaring life for several years, and became a shipowner and merchant. In December 1774, as a militia captain he assisted in the capture of Fort William and Mary at New Castle, New

Hampshire

HAMPSHIRE (or COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON, abbreviated HANTS)

, one of the first overt acts of the American colonists against the property of the crown. He was elected to the

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Representatives of the last Royal Assembly of New Hampshire and then to the second Continental Congress in 1775, and was a member of the first Naval Committee of the latter, but he resigned in 1776, and in June 1776 became Congress's agent of prizes in New Hampshire and in 1778 continental (naval) agent of Congress in this state, where he supervised the building of John Paul Jones's " Ranger " (completed in June 1777), the " America," launched in 1782, and other vessels. He was a judge of the New Hampshire Court of Common Pleas in 17761777, a member (and speaker) of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1776 until 1782, a member of the state Constitutional Convention of 1778 and of the state Senate in 17841785, and in 17831784 was again a member of Congress. He contributed largely to raise troops in 1777 to meet Burgoyne; and he served as a captain at Bennington and at Saratoga. He was president of New Hampshire in 17851786 and in 17881789; a member of the Federal Constitutional Convention in 1787, where he voted against granting to Congress the power of issuing

paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

money; a member of the state convention whichratified the Federal Constitution for New Hampshire; a member of the United States Senate in 17891801, and its president pro tem. during the first Congress and the second session of the second Congress; a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 18011805 and its speaker in 18031805; and

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of the state in 1805-1809 and in 18101812. He received nine electoral votes for the vice-presidency in 18o8, and in 1812 was an elector on the Madison ticket. He died in Portsmouth on the 18th of September 1819. He was an able leader during the Revolutionary period, when his wealth and social position were of

great

GREAT

assistance to the patriot party. In the later years of his life in New Hampshire he was the most prominent of the local Republican leaders and built up his party by partisan appointments. He refused the naval portfolio in Jefferson's cabinet.
His elder brother,

WOODBURY

LANGDON (17391805), was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 17791780, a member of the executive council of New Hampshire in 17811784, judge of the Supreme Court of the state in 1782 and in 17861790 (although he had had no legal training), and a state senator in 17841785.
Alfred Langdon Elwyn has edited Letters by Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Others, Written During and After the Revolution, to John Langdon of New Hampshire (Philadelphia, 188o), a book of

great

GREAT

interest

INTEREST

and value. See a biographical sketch of John Langdon by Charles R. Corning in the New England Magazine, vol. xxii. (Boston, 1897).

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