Abraham Baldwin
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office December 7, 1801 – December 14, 1802
Preceded by	James Hillhouse
Succeeded by	Stephen R. Bradley
United States Senator fromGeorgia
In office March 4, 1799 – March 4, 1807
Preceded by	Josiah Tattnall (politician)
Succeeded by	George Jones
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia'sat-large district
In office March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1799
Preceded by	district created
Succeeded by	James Jones
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's2nd district
In office March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1793
Preceded by	district created
Succeeded by	Converted to at-large districts
President of the University of Georgia
In office 1785–1801
Preceded by	None; post established
Succeeded by	Josiah Meigs
Delegate from Georgia to theCongress of the Confederation
In office 1785 – 85, 1787–88
Personal details
Born	November 22, 1754 Guilford,Connecticut Colony,British America
Died	March 4, 1807(1807-03-04) (aged 52) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Rock Creek Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	Yale College

Abraham Baldwin (November 22, 1754 – March 4, 1807) was an Americanminister,patriot,politician, andFounding Father who signed theUnited States Constitution. Born and raised inConnecticut, he was a 1772 graduate ofYale College. After theRevolutionary War, Baldwin became a lawyer. He moved to theU.S. state ofGeorgia in the mid-1780s and founded theUniversity of Georgia. Baldwin was a member ofSociety of the Cincinnati.^[1][2][3]

Baldwin served as a United StatesSenator from Georgia from 1799 to 1807. During his tenure, he served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senate from 1801 to 1802.

Abraham Baldwin was born in 1754 inGuilford in theConnecticut Colony into a large family, the son of Lucy (Dudley) and Michael Baldwin, a blacksmith, and descended from ElderJohn Strong.^[4] His half-brother,Henry Baldwin, was anAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. After attending Guilford Grammar School, Abraham Baldwin attended Yale College in nearbyNew Haven, Connecticut, where he was a member of theLinonian Society. He graduated in 1772.^[5]

Three years later after theological study, he was licensed as aCongregationalist minister. He also served as a tutor at the college. He held that position until 1779. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as achaplain in theConnecticut Contingent of theContinental Army. He did not see combat while with the Continental troops.^[6] 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.^[5]

Encouraged by his former commanding officer GeneralNathanael Greene, who had acquired the plantation at Mulberry Grove whereEli Whitney would later invent thecotton gin, Baldwin moved to Georgia. He was recruited by fellow Yale alumnus GovernorLyman 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 theCongress of the Confederation and then to theConstitutional Convention; in September 1786 he was one of the state’s two signatories to theU.S. Constitution.

Baldwin remained president of the University of Georgia during its initial development phase until 1800.^[5] 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'salma 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.)

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 coastalLowcountry. He became one of the most prominent legislators, pushing significant measures such as the education bill^[which?] through the sometimes split Georgia Assembly.^[6][7]

He was elected asrepresentative to theU.S. Congress in 1788. The Georgia legislature elected him asU.S. Senator in 1799^[8] (this was the practice untilpopular election in 1913). He served aspresident pro tempore of the United States Senate from December 1801 to December 1802. He was re-elected and served in office until his death.

On March 4, 1807, at age 52, Baldwin died while serving as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Later that month theSavannah Republican andSavannah 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."^[9] His remains are interred atRock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.^[10]

• TheUnited States Postal Service made a 7¢Great Americans seriespostage stamp in his honor;^[11]
• Places and institutions were named for him, including:
  • Baldwin County in Alabama andGeorgia;^[12]
  • Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College inTifton, Georgia;
  • Abraham Baldwin Middle School inGuilford, Connecticut;
  • Baldwin streets inMadison, Wisconsin^[13] andAthens, Georgia.
• The University of Georgia erected a statue of Baldwin on the historic North Campus quad in his honor as its founding father.^[14]

• White, Henry Clay (1926).Abraham Baldwin: One of the Founders of the Republic, and Father of the University of Georgia, the First of American State Universities. McGregor Company.

• List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)

• United States Congress."Abraham Baldwin (id: B000084)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
•  Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Baldwin, Abraham".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 195.

• 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
• Signatories of the Constitution of the United States
• 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 United States representatives

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