John Langdon (politician)
John Langdon was a politician from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a Founding Father of the United States. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, signed the United States Constitution, was one of the first two United States senators from that state; as a member of the Continental Congress Langdon was an early supporter of the Revolutionary War. He served in United States Congress for 12 years, including as the first president pro tempore of the Senate, before becoming governor of New Hampshire, he turned down a nomination for Vice Presidential candidate in 1812. Langdon's father was a prosperous farmer and local ship builder whose family had emigrated to America before 1660 from Sheviock, Cornwall; the Langdons were among the first to settle near the mouth of the Piscataqua River, a settlement which became Portsmouth, one of New England's major seaports. Langdon attended the local grammar school run by a veteran of the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg against the French at Fortress Louisbourg in New France.
After finishing his primary education, he served an apprenticeship as a clerk. He and his older brother, Woodbury Langdon, rejected the opportunity to join pop in their father's successful agricultural livelihood and apprenticed themselves to local naval merchants instead. By age 22, Langdon was captain of a cargo ship called sailing to the West Indies. Four years he owned his first merchantman, would continue over time to acquire a small fleet of vessels engaging in the triangle trade between Portsmouth, the Caribbean, London, his older brother was more successful in international trade, by 1777 both young men were among Portsmouth's wealthiest citizens. British control of the shipping industries hurt Langdon's business, motivating him to become a vigorous and prominent supporter of the revolutionary movement in the 1770s, he served on the New Hampshire Committee of Correspondence and a nonimportation committee, attended various Patriot assemblies. In 1774, he participated in the seizure and confiscation of British munitions from Fort William and Mary.
Langdon served as a member of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1776. He resigned in June 1776 to become agent for the Continental forces against the British and superintended the construction of several warships including the Raleigh, the America, the Ranger, captained by John Paul Jones. In 1777, he equipped an expedition against the British, participating in the Battle of Bennington and commanding Langdon's Company of Light Horse Volunteers at Saratoga and in Rhode Island. In 1784 he built at Portsmouth the mansion now known as the Governor John Langdon House. Langdon was elected to two terms as President of New Hampshire, once between 1785 and 1786 and again between 1788 and 1789, he was a member of the Congress of the Confederation in 1787 and became a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, serving as a member of the New Hampshire delegation. Langdon was elected to the U. S. Senate and served from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1801, he was elected the first President pro tempore of the Senate on April 6, 1789, served as president pro tempore during the second Congress.
During the 1787 constitutional debates in Philadelphia, Langdon spoke out against James Madison's proposed "negative" on state laws because he felt that should the Senate be granted this power and not the House of Representatives, it would "hurt the feelings" of House members. In 1798, Langdon assisted Oney Judge to evade Burwell Bassett, the nephew of George and Martha Washington, who had intended to kidnap Judge and return her to slavery with the Washingtons. Langdon served as a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, with the last two terms as speaker. In 1808, his niece, Catherine Whipple Langdon, married Edmund Roberts. Langdon declined the nomination to be a candidate for Vice President with James Madison in 1812, retired, he was interred at the Langdon Tomb in the North Cemetery. The town of Langdon, New Hampshire is named after him, as well as Langdon Street in Madison, Wisconsin, a town with numerous streets named after founding fathers. United States Congress. "John Langdon". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
"The Founding Fathers: New Hampshire." U. S. National Archives and Records Administration. Wright, Jr. Robert K. "John Langdon". Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution. Washington, D. C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 71-25. State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire. State Builers Publishing Manchester, NH 1903 Mayo, Lawrence Shaw. John Langdon of New Hampshire. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1937. Governor John Langdon House, Historic New England Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Langdon, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was an organic act passed by the 33rd U. S. Congress that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and President Franklin Pierce; the initial purpose of the Kansas–Nebraska Act was to open up thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. In addition to creating the U. S. territories of Kansas and Nebraska, the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide, "under the concept of popular sovereignty, whether they wanted slavery or not." The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had prohibited slavery in all U. S. territories west of the Mississippi River and north of 36°30' latitude. The popular sovereignty clause of the law led pro- and anti-slavery elements to flood into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, resulting in a series of armed conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas". Controversy surrounding the Kansas-Nebraska Act was a cause of the Civil War.
The availability of tens of millions of acres of fertile farmland in the area made it necessary to create a territorial infrastructure to allow settlement. Railroad interests were eager to start operations since they needed farmers as customers. Four previous attempts to pass legislation had failed; the solution was a bill proposed in January 1854 by Douglas — the Democratic Party leader in the US Senate, the chairman of the Committee on Territories, an avid promoter of railroads, an aspirant to the presidency, a fervent believer in popular sovereignty — the policy of letting the voters exclusively white males, of a territory decide whether or not slavery should exist in it. Since the 1840s, the topic of a transcontinental railroad had been discussed. While there were debates over the specifics the route to be taken, there was a public consensus that such a railroad should be built by private interests, financed by public land grants. In 1845, serving in his first term in the US House of Representatives, had submitted an unsuccessful plan to organize the Nebraska Territory formally, as the first step in building a railroad with its eastern terminus in Chicago.
Railroad proposals were debated in all subsequent sessions of Congress with cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Quincy and New Orleans competing to be the jumping-off point for the construction. Several proposals in late 1852 and early 1853 had strong support, but they failed because of disputes over whether the railroad would follow a northern or a southern route. In early 1853, the House of Representatives passed a bill 107 to 49 to organize the Nebraska Territory in the land west of Iowa and Missouri. In March, the bill moved to the Senate Committee on Territories, headed by Douglas. Missouri Senator David Atchison announced that he would support the Nebraska proposal only if slavery was allowed. While the bill was silent on this issue, slavery would have been prohibited under the Missouri Compromise in territory north of 36°30' latitude and west of the Mississippi River. Other Southern senators were as inflexible as Atchison. By a vote of 23 to 17, the Senate voted to table the motion, with every senator from the states south of Missouri voting to table.
During the Senate adjournment, the issues of the railroad and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise became entangled in Missouri politics, as Atchison campaigned for re-election against the forces of Thomas Hart Benton. Atchison was maneuvered into choosing between antagonizing the state's railroad interests or its slaveholders. Atchison took the position that he would rather see Nebraska "sink in hell" before he would allow it to be overrun by free soilers. Representatives generally found lodging in boarding houses when they were in the nation's capital to perform their legislative duties. Atchison shared lodgings in an F Street house, shared by the leading Southerners in Congress. Atchison himself was the Senate's president pro tempore, his housemates included James Mason and Andrew P. Butler; when Congress reconvened on December 5, 1853, the group, termed the F Street Mess, along with Virginian William O. Goode, formed the nucleus that would insist on slaveholder equality in Nebraska. Douglas knew that he needed to address its concerns.
Iowa Senator Augustus C. Dodge reintroduced the same legislation to organize Nebraska that had stalled in the previous session. Douglas, hoping to achieve the support of the Southerners, publicly announced that the same principle, established in the Compromise of 1850 should apply in Nebraska. In the Compromise of 1850, Utah and New Mexico Territories had been organized without any restrictions on slavery, many supporters of Douglas argued that the compromise had superseded the Missouri Compromise; the two territories, unlike Nebraska, had not been part of the Louisiana Purchase and had never been subject to the Missouri Compromise. The bill was reported to the main body of the Senate on January 4, 1854, it had been modified by Douglas, who had authored the New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory Acts, to mirror the language from the Compromise of 1850. In the bill, a vast new Nebraska Territory was created to extend from Kansas north all the way to the 49th parallel, the US–Canada border. A large portion of Nebraska Territory would soon be split off into Dakota Territory, smaller portions transferred to Colorado Territory and Idaho Territory before the ba
Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, United States. The population was 26,885 as of 2010. Clinton, along with DeWitt, was named in honor of the sixth governor of New York, DeWitt Clinton. Clinton is the principal city of the Clinton Micropolitan Statistical Area, coterminous with Clinton County. Clinton was incorporated on January 26, 1857. Among the first settlers of European origin in the Clinton area was Elijah Buell, who built a log cabin on July 25, 1835 and in 1837, established the town of Lyons, named after the French city of the same name. Buell partnered with a John Baker in a successful ferry service across the Mississippi River, at a location called "the Narrows," between Lyons and what would become the City of Fulton, Illinois. Although Lyons grew and prospered, it merged into the City of Clinton. Clinton was platted as the town of New York in 1836 by Joseph Bartlett. Bartlett believed that the region was rich with gold deposits, he prepared for a boom town to develop.
While waiting for the "gold boom" to materialize, Bartlett started a second ferry service across the Mississippi to the village of Albany, Illinois. However, his service was not as popular as Buell's in Lyons. Bartlett soon became discouraged, sold his assets. In March 1837, Noble and Sarah Gregory Perrin purchased 136 acres of land in what is now Clinton and raised their family in a cabin located at the foot of the railroad bridge. Eve Their oldest daughter, married Dr. Augustus Lafayette Ankeny, who participated in the Blackhawk war and came to Lyons in April 1850. Mary Perrin, born September 26, 1837, was the first female child of European ancestry born in Clinton County. In 1839, as in most early river towns, the town consisted of a sprinkling of cabins, two stores and a tavern. In 1855, the Chicago, Nebraska Railroad announced it would cross the river at Little Rock Island adjacent to Bartlett's settlement; the Iowa Land Company was organized on May 26, 1855, on July 4, bought Bartlett's tract and renamed it Clinton, in honor of DeWitt Clinton, two-time governor of New York and one of the driving forces behind the construction of the Erie Canal.
In 1840, the County of Clinton was organized. The settlement that would become Clinton did not change much in the 1840s, but Lyons continued to grow and prosper. By 1852, stagecoach lines ran from Lyons to 30 mi to the Southwest; that same year, the Lyons and Iowa Central Railroad Company was formed, led by an H. P. Adams. Work began on the railroad immediately, progressed rapidly. However, the funds raised to construct the line were insufficient; the venture failed. The railroad was disparagingly known as "the Calico Line," after the large amount of calico fabric sold at the company store in Lyons, but the prospect of a railroad to Lyons, a crossing of the Mississippi at the Narrows that would follow, sparked rapid growth in the community. Lyons' population grew from a mere 200 in 1852, to over 5,000 by 1858. On November 10, 1855, the first plat of the city of Clinton was signed. Stuart, a civil engineer from New York, with the assistance of William Rumble, C. I. Loring, draftsman. On January 26, 1857 the city was granted a charter and on March 7, the charter was adopted.
On April 5, 1859, the amended charter of the city was adopted, which lasted until a general charter was adopted in 1867. An announcement came in 1855 that a railroad was to cross the Mississippi, South of Lyons, at Little Rock Island. At the same time, the Iowa Land Company was formed; the ILC purchased Bartlett's tract on the Iowa shore opposite Little Rock Island. Concurrently, the Chicago, Iowa, & Nebraska Railroad was formed, with the express intent of crossing the Mississippi River at Clinton. Construction on the railroad bridge began in 1856, Clinton's population grew to over 1,000 as construction continued. In June 1859, the railroad line was completed to Cedar Rapids; the first train crossed from the Illinois shore to Little Rock Island at noon, January 9, 1860, was ferried from there to the Iowa shore. In January 1864, construction was started on the span from Little Rock Island to the Iowa shore and was completed on January 6, 1865; the original single track railroad bridge was replaced by a double track bridge, completed in 1909.
In 1864, the C&IN Railroad merged with the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad to form the Chicago & North Western Railroad. In the North-South direction, railroad development continued as well. In 1868, the C&NW built a branch line connecting Lyons with the East-West railroad at Clinton. In 1870, the Iowa Midland Company built a railroad from Lyons to Anamosa, Iowa, 59 mi to the Northwest; this railroad was absorbed by the C&NW. In 1872, the Chicago, Clinton, & Dubuque Railroad was built North from Lyons, it became part of the Milwaukee Road. The last of the railroads in Clinton, the Davenport, Rock Island, Northwestern, was completed from the Southwest along the Mississippi River to Clinton in 1901. An interurban passenger railroad operated along this trackage as late as 1940; this right-of-way, along with that of the former CC&D, is operated by Canadian National. In 1869, due to its importance as a major transportation hub, the county seat was moved to Clinton.
New Hampshire Democratic Party
The New Hampshire Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of New Hampshire. The chair is Raymond Buckley; the vice chairs are Mo Baxley. The most recent Democratic governor was Maggie Hassan, who served from 2013 to 2017; the only U. S. president from New Hampshire was a Democrat, Franklin Pierce who served from 1853 to 1857. The New Hampshire Democratic Party has played a pivotal role in the election process for the president of the United States, with New Hampshire holding the first primary in the nation. Local Democrats in New Hampshire have huge power in determining the outcomes of elections; the New Hampshire Democratic Party holds both of the state's U. S. Senate seats, both of the state's seats in the U. S. House of Representatives. Democrats hold a majority in the New Hampshire House of New Hampshire Senate. Jeanne Shaheen Maggie HassanJeanne Shaheen is the first woman in United States history to be elected to both a governorship and a US senator, she served for three terms as New Hampshire's governor between 1997 and 2003.
In 2008 she became the first woman elected to the US Senate from New Hampshire. Senator Shaheen is on the Committee of Appropriations, where she sits as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Related Agencies. Senator Shaheen is a member of the Armed Services Committee, Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Select Committee on Ethics, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Maggie Hassan was the second woman in the United States history to be elected to both a governorship and a US senator. Senator Hassan served for two terms from 2013 to 2017 as New Hampshire's 81st governor. Senator Hassan won her election to the US Senate in 2016, beating out incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte by a mere 1,017 votes. Senator Hassan sits on the Senate Committee on Finance, Committee on Health, Education and Pensions, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Joint Economic Committee. Prior to being governor, Senator Hassan was a state senator from District 23 from 2004 to 2010, in which she served as Majority Leader from 2005 to 2010.
Chris Pappas. Congressman Pappas is the first member of the LGBTQ community to be elected to federal office from the state of New Hampshire. Prior to serving in Congress, Chris Pappas was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council, representing District 4 from 2013 to 2019. Ann McLane Kuster was elected to a historic fourth term in 2018. District 1 - Mike Cryans - 2019-present District 2 - Andru Volinsky - 2017-present District 5 - Debora Pignatelli - 2005-11, 2013-15, 2019-present Senate President: Donna Soucy Speaker of the House: Steve Shurtleff The New Hampshire Democratic Party stands for policies that support strong, healthy communities and families, a strong economy with opportunities for all, a fundamental system of fairness and justice. We believe government has a vital role in creating healthy communities and a vibrant business environment. We believe that essential elements of an attractive business environment include a healthy, well-trained workforce, quality public education, affordable housing and a comprehensive transportation and communication infrastructure.
We are committed to upholding the right of every eligible voter to cast their ballot free from unreasonable restrictions. New Hampshire holds the first primary in the nation to kick off an election cycle every four years; this is a part of the long process in choosing nominations for both the Democratic and Republican parties. New Hampshire plays a key role in choosing nominees due to the massive amounts of media attention it gets. Being first involves having a huge impact on the process as a whole by setting the bar for latter states. New Hampshire has been a bellwether for politicians seeking election. A weak showing in New Hampshire has caused office seekers to drop out of the race early. In 1952 and in 1968 Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson both drop their reelection campaigns after poor showings in the New Hampshire primary. New Hampshire started holding a primary in 1916 and has held the First in the Nation primary since 1920. At first voters could only vote on delegates to send the party national conventions.
It was Richard F. Upton, speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, who amended the law to allow for direct vote of presidential candidates. In 1952 New Hampshire voters started voting for the candidates; this new law inspired the voters of New Hampshire to write in Dwight D. Eisenhower name as a candidate for the 1952 Republican New Hampshire primary ballot. Eisenhower was able to beat Republican Party leader Robert A. Taft without Eisenhower going to the state, he would go on to become President. 2016: Bernie Sanders 2012: Barack Obama 2008: Hillary Clinton 2004: John Kerry 2000: Al Gore 1996: Bill Clinton 1992: Paul Tsongas 1988: Michael Dukakis 1984: Gary Hart 1980: Jimmy Carter 1976: Jimmy Carter 1972: Edmund Muskie 1968: Lyndon B. Johnson 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson 1960: John F. Kennedy 1956: Estes Kefauver 1952: Estes Kefauver In chronological order: Benjamin Pierce Matthew Harvey Joseph M. Harper Samuel Dinsmoor William Badger Isaac Hill John Page Henry Hubbard John Hardy Steele Jared W. Williams Samuel Dinsmoor, Jr. Noah Martin Nathaniel B.
Baker James A. Weston Samuel D. Felker Fred H. Brown John W. Kin
Noah Martin was a New Hampshire businessman and politician who served as Governor from 1852 to 1854. Noah Martin was born in Epsom, New Hampshire on July 26, 1801, the son of shoemaker Samuel Martin and Sally Martin, he apprenticed under Deerfield doctors before attending Dartmouth Medical College. He graduated in 1824, began his medical practice in Somersworth, he practiced in Pembroke, settled in Dover. In 1825, Martin married the daughter of Dr. Robert Woodbury of Barrington, they were the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth A. and Caroline M. Martin served as a State Representative in 1830 and 1832, as a State Senator in 1835 and 1836, in the House again in 1837. In addition to being involved in several medical, agricultural and genealogical societies, Martin was president of the Strafford County Savings Bank, board of directors member of the Dover Bank, board of directors member of the Strafford Bank. In 1852 Martin was elected Governor of New Hampshire, the first of two from Dover, he served two one-year terms, June 3, 1852 to June 8, 1854.
Martin died in Dover on May 28, 1863, is buried at Dover's Pine Hill Cemetery. Noah Martin at National Governors Association Noah Martin at Epsom Historical Association A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors – Noah Martin Dover Public Library – Governor Noah Martin House Noah Martin at Find a Grave
Franklin Pierce was the 14th president of the United States, a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. He alienated anti-slavery groups by championing and signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, yet he failed to stem conflict between North and South, setting the stage for Southern secession and the American Civil War. Pierce was born in New Hampshire, served in the U. S. House of Representatives and the Senate until he resigned from the Senate in 1842, his private law practice in New Hampshire was a success, he was appointed U. S. Attorney for his state in 1845, he took part in the Mexican–American War as a brigadier general in the Army. He was seen by Democrats as a compromise candidate uniting northern and southern interests and was nominated as the party's candidate for president on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention, he and running mate William R. King defeated the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A.
Graham in the 1852 presidential election. As president, Pierce attempted to enforce neutral standards for civil service while satisfying the diverse elements of the Democratic Party with patronage, an effort which failed and turned many in his party against him, he was a Young America expansionist who signed the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico and led a failed attempt to acquire Cuba from Spain. He signed trade treaties with Britain and Japan, while his Cabinet reformed their departments and improved accountability, but these successes were overshadowed by political strife during his presidency, his popularity declined in the Northern states after he supported the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which nullified the Missouri Compromise, while many whites in the South continued to support him. Passage of the act led to violent conflict over the expansion of slavery in the American West. Pierce's administration was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto calling for the annexation of Cuba, a document, roundly criticized.
He expected to be renominated by the Democrats in the 1856 presidential election, but was abandoned by his party and his bid failed. His reputation in the North suffered further during the American Civil War as he became a vocal critic of President Abraham Lincoln. Pierce was popular and outgoing, but his family life was a grim affair, with his wife Jane suffering from illness and depression for much of her life. All of their children died young, their last son being gruesomely killed in a train accident while the family was traveling shortly before Pierce's inauguration, he was a heavy drinker for much of his life, he died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1869. Historians and scholars rank Pierce as one of the worst and least memorable U. S. Presidents. Franklin Pierce was born on November 1804 in a log cabin in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, he was a sixth-generation descendant of Thomas Pierce, who had moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Norwich, England in about 1634. His father Benjamin was a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War who moved from Chelmsford, Massachusetts to Hillsborough after the war, purchasing 50 acres of land.
Pierce was the fifth of eight children born to his second wife Anna Kendrick. Benjamin was a prominent Democratic-Republican state legislator and tavern-keeper. During Pierce's childhood, his father was involved in state politics, while two of his older brothers fought in the War of 1812. Pierce's father ensured that his sons were educated, he placed Pierce in a school at Hillsborough Center in childhood and sent him to the town school at Hancock at age 12; the boy, not fond of schooling, grew homesick at Hancock and walked 12 miles back to his home one Sunday. His father fed him dinner and drove him part of the distance back to school before kicking him out of the carriage and ordering him to walk the rest of the way in a thunderstorm. Pierce cited this moment as "the turning-point in my life"; that year, he transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy to prepare for college. By this time, he had built a reputation as a charming student, sometimes prone to misbehavior. In fall 1820, Pierce entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, one of 19 freshmen.
He joined the Athenian Society, a progressive literary society, alongside Jonathan Cilley and Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he formed lasting friendships. He was the last in his class after two years, but he worked hard to improve his grades and graduated in fifth place in 1824 in a graduating class of 14. John P. Hale enrolled at Bowdoin in Pierce's junior year. Pierce organized and led an unofficial militia company called the Bowdoin Cadets during his junior year, which included Cilley and Hawthorne; the unit performed drill on campus near the president's house, until the noise caused him to demand that it halt. The students went on strike, an event that Pierce was suspected of leading. During his final year at Bowdoin, he spent several months teaching at a school in rural Hebron, where he earned his first salary and his students included future Congressman John J. Perry. Pierce read law with former New Hampshire Governor Levi Woodbury, a family friend in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he spent a semester at Northampton Law School in Northampton, followed by a period of study in 1826 and 1827 under Judge Edmund Parker in Amherst, New Hampshire.
He was admitt
Levi Woodbury was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a U. S. Senator, the 9th Governor of New Hampshire, cabinet member in three administrations. Born in Francestown, New Hampshire, he established a legal practice in Francestown in 1812. After serving in the New Hampshire Senate, he was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1817, he served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1823 to 1824 and represented New Hampshire in the Senate from 1825 to 1831, becoming affiliated with the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson. He served as the United States Secretary of the Navy under President Jackson and as the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and President Martin Van Buren, he served another term representing New Hampshire in the Senate from 1841 to 1845, when he accepted President James K. Polk's appointment to the Supreme Court. Woodbury was the first Justice to have attended law school, he received significant support for the presidential nomination at the 1848 Democratic National Convention among New England delegates, but the nomination went to Lewis Cass of Michigan.
Woodbury served on the court until his death in 1851. Woodbury was born in the son of Mary and Peter Woodbury, he began his education at Atkinson Academy. He graduated from Dartmouth College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1809 attended Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield and read law to be admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1812, he became the first Supreme Court justice to attend law school. He was in private practice in Francestown from 1812 to 1816, he joined the Freemasons. His education contributed to his early start in law, which led to his political positions, he began practicing law in his hometown. During his time in Francestown, he wrote the Hillsborough Resolves to defend the Madison administration for their decisions in the War of 1812, which marked the beginning of his political involvement. Following the publication of his defense, he gained the recognition he needed to receive an appointment to the state senate in 1816. In quick succession, he was appointed to the state supreme court a year and in 1823, he was elected as the Governor of New Hampshire.
During the time of his gubernatorial election, there was factionalism within the party. The caucus chose Samuel Dinsmoor as the candidate for governor, but an "irregular" public convention elected Woodbury as the other candidate. Woodbury defeated Dinsmoor by a wide margin, he did not make a lot of progress. He became a U. S. Senator from New Hampshire, during which time he served as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Throughout Woodbury's political career, he was characterized as being independent and moderate, which some scholars interpret as indecisiveness and hesitancy. Woodbury was a clerk of the New Hampshire State Senate from 1816 to 1817, a Justice of New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature from 1817 to 1823, he was Governor of New Hampshire from 1823 to 1824 and was Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, 1825. Woodbury served as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1825 to 1831. Elected to serve in New Hampshire State Senate in 1831, Woodbury did not take office due to his appointment as United States Secretary of the Navy under President Andrew Jackson, from 1831 to 1834.
At the beginning of this term, he was instrumental in the appointment of fellow New Hampshireman Edmund Roberts as special agent and envoy to the Far East. Woodbury served as Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1834 to 1841, served again as Senator from New Hampshire from 1841 to 1845, he was a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, 1845 to 1851; as a U. S. Senator, Woodbury was a dependable Jackson Democrat, President Jackson appointed him Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Treasury. Woodbury worked to end the Second Bank of the United States. In retrospect, the financial Panic of 1837 and the collapse of speculative land prices were legacies of Woodbury's tenure. After the Panic, Woodbury realised that the U. S. Treasury needed a more secure administration of its own funds than commercial banks supplied, he backed the act for an "Independent Treasury System" passed by Congress in 1840, it was repealed under the new administration the following year, but the foundation was laid for an independent U.
S. Treasury established in 1846, under President James K. Polk. Woodbury served as chairman of the U. S. Senate Committee on Finance during a Special Session of the 29th Congress, his ten-day chairmanship is the shortest on record. In the 1844 presidential election and the Jackson Democrats supported the Democrats' nomination of Polk. In that year, Woodbury delivered a Phi Beta Kappa Address at his alma mater, Dartmouth College, titled "Progress." The address discussed Thomas Cole's series of The Course of Empire. Woodbury believed that, unlike Cole's depiction of a cycle of rise and decline, in the United States there would only be a rise. On September 20, 1845, Polk gave Woodbury a recess appointment to the seat on the U. S. Supreme Court vacated by Joseph Story. Formally nominated on December 23, 1845, Woodbury was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 3, 1846, received his commission the same day, he was promoted as a candidate for president at the 1848 Democratic National Convention, his support was centered in New England.
He remained on the Cou