William Badger (January 13, 1779 – September 21, 1852) was an American manufacturer and mill owner from

Gilmanton, New Hampshire Gilmanton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,945 at the 2020 census. Gilmanton includes the villages of Gilmanton Corners and Gilmanton Ironworks. The town became well known in the 1950s after it was ...

. He served in both houses of the

New Hampshire state legislature The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 memb ...

and was the 15th

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

from 1834 to 1836.

Biography

Badger was born in

. Educated at common school and at

Gilmanton Academy Gilmanton Academy is a historic school building on Province Road in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Built in 1894, it is a well-preserved example of a 19th-century academy building, and was one of the last to be built in the state. The building, now ho ...

, Badger worked after his school years to build a cotton cloth factory, a saw mill and a grist mill for his town. In 1804 Badger was made a trustee of Gilmanton Academy; he ultimately became president of the board for the school. Badger served as an aide to

John Langdon John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(Governor four different times, including 1805 to 1809). In 1810, Badger was elected to the first of three consecutive terms as a member of the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

(1810–1812); then he served three terms in the

New Hampshire Senate The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...

(1814–1817) where he served as President of the Senate in 1816–1817. Badger served as Associate Justice, Court of Common Pleas (1816–1820), and as High Sheriff of

Strafford County, New Hampshire Strafford County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 130,889. Its county seat is Dover. Strafford County was one of the five original counties identified for New Hampshire in 1769. It was n ...

(1820–1830). He was a

Presidential Elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

in the national elections of 1824, 1836 and 1844. In 1834, Badger won the gubernatorial election, and he won the next term as well. As Governor, Badger called for eliminating

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, a new idea for New Hampshire. He also had to deal with the breakaway

Indian Stream Republic The Republic of Indian Stream or Indian Stream Republic was an List of historical unrecognized states#Americas, unrecognized republic in North America, along the section of the Canada–United States border, border that divides the current Canadia ...

. Badger encouraged the legislature to support President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

's successful efforts to do away with the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ac ...

(helping to bring on the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

). Badger tried to inject new life into the state militia by statute; he also was interested in bringing

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

prevention directly to the state's small farming towns.

References

*A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998 Compiled by Russell Bastedo, New Hampshire State Curator, 1998'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Badger, William 1779 births 1852 deaths Democratic Party governors of New Hampshire People from Gilmanton, New Hampshire Presidents of the New Hampshire Senate Democratic Party New Hampshire state senators Democratic Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives New Hampshire sheriffs New Hampshire state court judges 1824 United States presidential electors 1836 United States presidential electors 1844 United States presidential electors

Biography

See also

References