Abraham Baldwin

Abraham Baldwin
President of the University of Georgia
Term	1785 – 1801
Predecessor	none
Successor	Josiah Meigs
Born	November 22, 1754 Guilford, Connecticut
Died	March 4, 1807 (aged 52) Washington, D.C.

Abraham Baldwin (November 22, 1754 – March 4, 1807) was an American politician, Patriot, and Founding Father from the U.S. state of Georgia. Baldwin was a Georgia representative in the Continental Congress and served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate after the adoption of the Constitution.

Minister

After attending a local village school, Abraham graduated from Yale University in nearby New Haven, Connecticut in 1772. Three years later, he became a minister and tutor at the college. He held that position until 1779, when he served as a chaplain in the Connecticut Contingent of the Continental Army. He did not see combat while with the Continental troops.^[1]

Two years later, he declined an offer from Yale for a divinity professorship. Instead of resuming his ministerial or educational duties after the war, he turned to the study of law and in 1783 was admitted to the bar at Fairfield.^[1]

Statesman

After Baldwin turned down a prestigious teaching position as professor of divinity at Yale, Georgia governor Lyman Hall persuaded him to accept the responsibility of creating an educational plan for both secondary and higher education in the state, believing that the development of the state hinged strongly upon the education of its citizens. Baldwin strongly believed that education was the key to developing frontier states like Georgia, and decided that the legislature would offer a good opportunity to pursue this route.^[1]

Once elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in the state legislature, he developed a comprehensive educational plan that ultimately included land grants from the state to fund the establishment of the University of Georgia (UGA), initially called Franklin College, in Athens, Georgia. Through Baldwin's efforts, UGA became the first state-chartered school in the nation when UGA was incorporated on January 27, 1785. Baldwin served as the first president of the institution during its initial planning phase, from 1785 to 1801. In 1801, Franklin college, UGA's initial college, opened to students with Josiah Meigs succeeding Baldwin as president to oversee the inaugural class of students. The school was architecturally modeled on Baldwin's alma mater, Yale.

Baldwin became very active in the legislature of Georgia, able to mediate between the rougher frontiersman because of his childhood as the son of a blacksmith and the aristocratic planter elite which farmed the coast. He became one of the most prominent legislators, pushing significant measures such as the education bill through the sometimes split Georgia.^[1][2]

Death and legacy

On March 4, 1807, at age fifty-two, Baldwin died while serving as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Later that month the Savannah Republican and Savannah Evening Ledger reprinted a eulogy of the great statesman, which had first appeared 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."^[3]

His remains are interred at Rock Creek Cemetery.

He has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a 7¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

Baldwin County, Alabama, Baldwin County, Georgia, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, Abraham Baldwin Middle School in Guilford, Connecticut, and Baldwin Street in Madison, Wisconsin and Athens, Georgia are named in his honor. ^[4]

References

• Abraham Baldwin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by New Seat	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1793	Succeeded by Converted to At-Large districts
Preceded by Converted from district seats	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's At-large congressional district March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1799	Succeeded by James Jones (Georgia)
United States Senate
Preceded by Josiah Tattnall	United States Senator (Class 2) from Georgia March 4, 1799 – March 4, 1807 Served alongside: James Gunn, James Jackson, John Milledge	Succeeded by George Jones
Political offices
Preceded by James Hillhouse	President pro tempore of the United States Senate December 7, 1801–December 13, 1802	Succeeded by Stephen R. Bradley