Signing Their Rights Away (3 page)

I. New Hampshire

The Signer Who Picked Up the Tab

BORN
: June 25 or 26, 1741

DIED
: September 18, 1819

AGE AT SIGNING
: 46

PROFESSION
: Merchant, shipbuilder, politician

BURIED
: Old North Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

A man possessing that rare combination of great wealth and a willingness to share it, John Langdon went from the sea to the battlefield and very nearly to the vice presidency. One of the Constitution’s best-regarded signers has a list of accomplishments that far outweighs the credit he’s received for them in modern times. Take it from James Madison, the so-called Father of the Constitution, who described the delegate from the Granite State as a “true patriot and a good man.”

Langdon was raised in and around Portsmouth to a family of prosperous farmers. Portsmouth was a major seaport, and, once Langdon’s basic elementary education was out of the way, he
apprenticed with a merchant. He sailed on a cargo ship to the West Indies and established his own firm. His fortunes grew quickly.

Many of his fellow wealthy merchants were more likely to side with their wallets than with the revolutionary cause, but Langdon was decidedly anti-British. In 1774, two years before independence was declared, he helped colonists storm a British fort and made off with the munitions before the royal governor could get his hands on them. In 1775, he entered New Hampshire politics and served as speaker of the assembly. In 1776, he was elected to the Second Continental Congress. There, his merchant background landed him on the committee that helped develop the first Continental Navy. He left in early 1776 to fight in his colony’s militia and operate as New Hampshire’s marine agent.

Once back home again, Langdon started a shipyard and began work on a continental frigate, the
Raleigh
. He also oversaw the building of the country’s first warship, the
America
. In 1777, he built the
Ranger
, whose command was given to the legendary John Paul Jones, the new nation’s first naval officer. (The
Ranger
had the distinction of being the first warship ever to fly the American stars and stripes.) That same year Langdon married Elizabeth Sherburne, and the couple had one daughter who survived to adulthood.

Langdon’s largesse was perhaps most influential in the summer of 1777 during the Bennington campaign, which prevented British general Burgoyne from working his way down the Hudson River. This achievement also paved the way for victory in the crucial battle of Saratoga. Langdon offered his militia—and his money—to both. “I have a thousand dollars in hard money,” Langdon said. “I will pledge my plate for three thousand more.” He also offered to sell off his “seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum” (around four thousand gallons). He was willing to give all this and more “in the service of the state.”

After the war, Langdon built a stunning house in Portsmouth. In 1785, he served a one-year term as governor of New Hampshire, a post he would hold another three times throughout his life. He was
serving as Speaker of House in the New Hampshire legislature when he received his invitation to the Constitutional Convention; the only problem was that his state wasn’t willing to send him. Some believe that New Hampshire was too broke to pay the bill; others claim they just doubted the crazy convention would accomplish anything. Whatever the case, Langdon had to fork over the money himself, and pay for delegate Nicholas Gilman as well. The two men didn’t reach Philadelphia until July, long after the convention had started, but better late than never.

They had been sorely missed. The debates over representation were already well under way, as smaller states like Delaware and New Jersey were feeling pushed around by delegates from big states like Virginia and Pennsylvania. They hoped new voices from New Hampshire would add credibility and volume to their arguments.

Langdon was active at the convention and reportedly spoke more than twenty times. His experience as a financier of military operations may have contributed to his belief that a strong central government would make it easier for the new country to defend itself. He “saw no more reason to be afraid of the central government than of the state governments.”

“The general and state governments are not enemies to each other,” he said, “but different institutions for the good of the people of America. As one of the people, I can say, the National Government is mine, the State Government is mine. In transferring power from one to the other, I only take out of my left hand what it cannot so well use, and put it into my right where it can be better used.”

Upon returning to New Hampshire, Langdon worked to secure ratification, but convincing his colleagues back home was no easy task. In February of 1788, he wrote to George Washington to express concern that ratification might not win the necessary votes. Fearing the worst, Langdon had the vote postponed until June; with the extra time, he was able to convince several people on the fence to hop over to his side. The gambit worked, and in June of 1788
New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, officially putting the Constitution in effect.

The next year, Langdon had the honor of supervising the first presidential electoral vote, making him America’s first president
pro tempore
. He tallied the votes and then wrote a note to George Washington, informing his fellow signer that he had been elected as the first president of the United States.

Langdon remained active in New Hampshire politics (serving as governor and in the legislature) but declined all offers to move into the national spotlight. As president, Thomas Jefferson offered him the post of Secretary of the Navy, but Langdon turned it down. When, a few years later, presidential candidate James Madison offered the vice-presidential candidacy, Langdon declined that post as well.

John Langdon lived to be seventy-eight years old (no small achievement at the time), and although he was exceptionally generous in financing the nation’s war, such contributions appear not to have threatened his prosperous way of life. George Washington was quoted as saying that Portsmouth had many fine houses, but “among them, Col. Langdon’s may be esteemed the first.” If you travel today to that picturesque seaside city, you may still visit Langdon’s stately Georgian mansion and surrounding gardens.

The Most Handsome Signer