In 1862 he was elected a member of Congress from the Ashtabula district of Ohio, and, resigning his.
He was a judge of the New Hampshire Court of Common Pleas in 17761 777, a member (and speaker) of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1776 until 1782, a member of the state Constitutional Convention of 1778 and of the state Senate in 1784-1785, and in1783-1784was again a member of Congress.
He was a member of Congress from 1893 to 1895, and from 1919 to 1921, being Speaker from 1911 to 1919 and minority leader thereafter; he was defeated in the election of 1920.
He was a friend of Franklin, a member of Congress for the state of Pennsylvania in 1776, and one of those who signed the Declaration of Independence the same year.
In this opposition he was joined by his brother, Frederick Augustus Conkling (1816-1891), at that time also a Republican member of Congress.