William Badger

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American politician (1779–1852)

title: "William Badger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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", "19th-century-members-of-the-new-hampshire-general-court"] description: "American politician (1779–1852)" topic_path: "people/1770s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Badger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1779–1852) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	William Badger
image	William Badger NH.jpg
order1	15th
office1	Governor of New Hampshire
term_start1	June 5, 1834
term_end1	June 2, 1836
predecessor1	Samuel Dinsmoor
successor1	Isaac Hill
office2	President of the
New Hampshire Senate
term_start2	1816
term_end2	1817
predecessor2	Moses P. Payson
successor2	Jonathan Harvey
office3	Member of the New Hampshire Senate
term3	1814–1817
office4	Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
term4	1810–1812
birth_date
birth_place	Gilmanton, New Hampshire
death_date
death_place	Gilmanton, New Hampshire
::

Biography

Badger was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Educated at common school and at Gilmanton Academy, 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 (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 (1810–1812); then he served three terms in the New Hampshire Senate (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 (1820–1830). He was a Presidential Elector 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, a new idea for New Hampshire. He also had to deal with the breakaway Indian Stream Republic. Badger encouraged the legislature to support President Andrew Jackson's successful efforts to do away with the Second Bank of the United States (helping to bring on the Panic of 1837). Badger tried to inject new life into the state militia by statute; he also was interested in bringing smallpox 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". New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.

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