John Langdon

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 (1775-1776); resigned in 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 of New Hampshire, 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, Senate of New Hampshire (1784); served two terms as President of the State of New Hampshire (1 Jun 1785 - 7 Jun 1786, 4 Jun 1788 - 22 Jan 1789); 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 US Senate (4 Mar 1789 - 3 Mar 1801); elected the first President pro tempore of the US Senate (6 Apr 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 (elected 5 Nov 1792 and 1 Mar 1793); declined to accept the portfolio of Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Thomas Jefferson in 1801; member, New Hampshire legislature (1801-1805), the last two terms as speaker; Governor of New Hampshire (6 Jun 1805 - 8 Jun 1809, 1810 - 5 Jun 1812); declined the nomination as a candidate for vice president in 1812. [1]