Langdon, Samuel, 1723-1797

Congregational clergyman and president of Harvard.

Samuel Langdon (1723-1797) was the thirteenth President of Harvard College from October 14, 1774 to August 30, 1780. He presided over the college during the American Revolution.

Samuel Langdon (1723-1797) was a Congregational clergyman from Boston, Mass. Upon graduating from Harvard College in 1740, he went on to serve in Portsmouth, N.H., and as chaplain for the New Hampshire regiment at Louisbourg. He was elected president of Harvard College in 1774, purportedly due to his strong Whig loyalties. He acted as president for six tense and restless years. He never gained the confidence of the students and resigned two days after being asked to do so by a committee of students. Langdon spent the remainder of his life serving as pastor at Hampton Falls, N.H. In 1788, he was a member of the New Hampshire Convention for ratifying the federal constitution.

Clergyman and college president.

Samuel Langdon (1723-1797) was the thirteenth president of Harvard College, serving from 1774 to 1780 and presiding over the College during the American Revolution.

Langdon was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1723. The youngest of six children and of limited financial means, he worked his way through Harvard College as a waiter and as the recipient of several scholarships. He received his A.B. degree in 1740 and his A.M. degree in 1743.

Langdon began his career as a schoolmaster in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1741, accepting a teaching position in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, three years later. In 1745, he was named Chaplain of a New Hampshire regiment sent to Cape Breton Island to lay siege to the fortress of Louisbourg. Following his military service, Langdon married Elizabeth Whipple Brown in 1746 and was appointed Pastor of the First Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1747.

For the next twenty five years, Langdon established his reputation as a man of learning and piety, promoting religious tolerance and education. As the colonies’ dispute with England grew, Langdon worried that the Crown would establish Anglican control over the colonies, and he placed his support with the colonists.

Chosen primarily for his political sympathies, Langdon was installed as President of Harvard College in 1774. The unfortunate combination of a smallpox epidemic in Cambridge, economic inflation, a decline in revenues, and the distractions of impending war left the College in a state of disarray and undercut Langdon’s ability to effectively manage College affairs. Temporary evacuation of the College from 1775 to 1776 further hampered Langdon’s administration. Ultimately, it was Langdon’s attempts to impose a more religious character on College life that infuriated students and led to Langdon’s resignation in 1780.

Langdon returned to New Hampshire, where he served as pastor in Hampton Falls until his death in 1797.