Merchant, politician.

Member of the Continental Congress (1775-76, 1783, 1787). Speaker in New Hampshire legislature (1777-81, 1786-87, 1804-05). President of New Hampshire (1785, 1788). Delegate to Federal Constitutional Convention (1787). United States senator (1789-1801). Governor of New Hampshire (1805-08, 1810-11).

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Married in 1777 to Elizabeth Sherburne.