Abraham Baldwin

Abraham Baldwin
President of the University of Georgia
Term	1785 – 1801
Predecessor	none
Successor	Josiah Meigs
Born	(1754-11-23)November 23, 1754 Guilford, Connecticut
Died	March 4, 1807(1807-03-04) (aged 52) Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	Yale University

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. Baldwin was the founding father of the University of Georgia, first state-charted public institution of higher education in the United States and served as its first president.

Minister

After attending a local village school, Abraham graduated from Yale University in nearby New Haven, Connecticut in 1772, where he was a member of the Linonian Society. 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.

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.

Statesman

Baldwin served as the first president of the University of Georgia 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. The University of Georgia's mascot, the Georgia Bulldogs were a tribute to Baldwin. Yale University is represented by the Yale Bulldogs.

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.

Death and legacy

On March 4, 1807, at age fifty-three, 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 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."

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

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 4, 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 4, 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