He was the oldest child of his family and was born in 1738 at Charleston, MA. He was 15 years old when he was apprenticed to a New London, CT merchant. In 1763 he married a lady named Rebecca Call, and they had nine children. Gorham began as a public notary but son won the colonial legislature (1771-1775). He was a delegate to the provincial congress (1774-1775), representative in both the upper and lower houses of legislature (1780-1787), and the speaker of latter in 1781, 1782, and 1785.

From June 1786 until January 1787, Nathan was a member of the Continental Congress. When he was 49 he joined the Continental Convention. He acted as a chairman of the Committee of the Whole, and sat on the Committee of Detail. In 1788, Gorham and Oliver Phelps contracted to the purchase from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 6 million acres of unimproved land in western New York. The cost was $1 million dollars. By 1790 the 2 men were unable to pay for the land. Gorham died in 1796 at Charleston, MA.