Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Langdon, John 1739-1819

Statesman; born in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1739; was a successful merchant, and took an early and active part in the events preceding the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Continental Congress (1775-76), but in June, in the latter year, he resigned his seat and became navy agent. He was speaker of the Assembly, and was ready to make any reasonable sacrifice to promote the cause. When means were needed to support a New Hampshire regiment, he gave all his “hard money,” pledged his plate, and applied to the same purpose the proceeds of seventy hogsheads of tobacco. He furnished means for raising a brigade of the troops with which Stark gained the victory at Bennington. He was active in civil affairs, also, all through the war, serving in the Continental Congress and his State legislature. In 1785 he was president of New Hampshire, and in 1787 was one of the framers of the federal Constitution. He was governor of his State in 1788, and again from 1805 to 1811; was United States Senator from 1789 to 1801, and declined the office of Secretary of the Navy (1811) and of Vice-President of the United States (1812). He died in Portsmouth, Sept. 18, 1819.