Abraham Baldwin (November 22, 1754March 4, 1807) was an American minister, patriot,

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and Founding Father who signed the

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. Born and raised in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, he was a 1772 graduate of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

. After the Revolutionary War, Baldwin became a lawyer. He moved to the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the mid-1780s and founded the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. Baldwin was a member of

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

. Baldwin served as a United States Senator from Georgia from 1799 to 1807. During his tenure, he served as

President pro tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...

from 1801 to 1802.

Early life, education and career

Abraham Baldwin was born in 1754 in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

in the

Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...

into a large family, the son of Lucy (Dudley) and Michael Baldwin, a blacksmith, and descended from Elder John Strong. His half-brother, Henry Baldwin, was an

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a Justice (title), justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the J ...

. After attending Guildford Grammar School, Abraham Baldwin attended Yale College in nearby

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, where he was a member of the Linonian Society. He graduated in 1772.Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 25 . . Three years later after theological study, he was licensed as a Congregationalist minister. He also served as a tutor at the college. He held that position until 1779. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

in the Connecticut Contingent of the

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. He did not see combat while with the Continental troops. Two years later at the conclusion of the war, Baldwin declined an offer from Yale's new president, Ezra Stiles, to become Professor of Divinity. Instead, he turned to the study of law and in 1783 was admitted to the Connecticut bar.

Move to Georgia

Encouraged by his former commanding officer General

Nathanael Greene Major general (United States), Major General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He emerge ...

, who had acquired the plantation at Mulberry Grove where Eli Whitney would later invent the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

, Baldwin moved to Georgia. He was recruited by fellow Yale alumnus Governor Lyman Hall, another transplanted New Englander, to develop a state education plan. Baldwin was named the first president of the University of Georgia and became active in politics to build support for the university, which had not yet enrolled its first student. He was appointed as a delegate to the

Congress of the Confederation The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation ...

and then to the Constitutional Convention; in September 1786 he was one of the state’s two signatories to the U.S. Constitution. Baldwin remained president of the University of Georgia during its initial development phase until 1800. During this period, he also worked with the legislature on the college charter. In 1801, Franklin College, the University of Georgia's initial college, opened to students. Josiah Meigs was hired to succeed Baldwin as first acting president and oversee the inaugural class of students. The first buildings of the college were architecturally modeled on Baldwin's and Meigs's ''alma mater'' of Yale where they both had taught. (Later the university sports team adopted as its mascot the bulldog, also in tribute to Baldwin and Meigs, as it is the mascot of Yale.)

Politics

Baldwin was elected to the Georgia Assembly, where he became very active, working to develop support for the college. He was able to mediate between the rougher frontiersmen, perhaps because of his childhood as the son of a blacksmith, and the aristocratic planter elite who dominated the coastal Lowcountry. He became one of the most prominent legislators, pushing significant measures such as the education bill through the sometimes split Georgia Assembly. He was elected as representative to the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

in 1788. The Georgia legislature elected him as U.S. Senator in 1799 (this was the practice until popular election in 1913). He served as

from December 1801 to December 1802. He was re-elected and served in office until his death.

Death and legacy

On March 4, 1807, at age 52, Baldwin died while serving as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Later that month the ''Savannah Republican'' and ''Savannah Evening Ledger'' reprinted an obituary that had first been published in a Washington, D.C., newspaper: "He originated the plan of The University of Georgia, drew up the charter, and with infinite labor and patience, in vanquishing all sorts of prejudices and removing every obstruction, he persuaded the assembly to adopt it.""Abraham Baldwin (1754–1807)"
, ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' (January 6, 2009), Retrieved on July 21, 2013 His remains are interred at

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...

in Washington, DC. * The

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made a 7¢ Great Americans series

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in his honor; * Places and institutions were named for him, including: ** Baldwin County in Alabama and

; **

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) is a public college in Tifton, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and offers bachelor's degree, baccalaureate and associate degrees. The college is named after Abraham Baldwin, a ...

Tifton, Georgia Tifton is a city in and the county seat of Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has ...

; ** Abraham Baldwin Middle School in

Guilford, Connecticut Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Connecticut, Madison, Branford, Connecticut, Branford, North Branford, Connecticut, North Branford and Durham, Connecticut, Durham, and is situated on Inter ...

; ** Baldwin streets in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

and

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. * The University of Georgia erected a statue of Baldwin on the historic North Campus quad in his honor as its founding father.

Bibliography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Abraham 1754 births 1807 deaths Founding Fathers of the United States People from Guilford, Connecticut Continental Congressmen from Georgia (U.S. state) People of Connecticut in the American Revolution Presidents of the University of Georgia American people of English descent United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Democratic-Republican Party United States senators American military chaplains Signers of the United States Constitution People from Fairfield, Connecticut Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) Baldwin County, Alabama Baldwin County, Georgia Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Yale Divinity School alumni People from colonial Connecticut Yale College alumni Founders of American schools and colleges 19th-century United States senators 18th-century United States senators 18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives