Baldwin, Abraham, 1754-1807

Abraham Baldwin (November 22, 1754 – March 4, 1807) was an American minister, Patriot, politician, and Founding Father who signed the United States Constitution. Born and raised in Connecticut, he was a 1772 graduate of Yale College. After the Revolutionary War, Baldwin became a lawyer. He moved to the U.S. state of Georgia in the mid-1780s and founded the University of Georgia. Baldwin was a member of Society of the Cincinnati.

Born in Guilford in the Connecticut Colony, Baldwin attended Guilford Grammar School and Yale College. After studying theology, he was licensed as a Congregationalist minister and served as a tutor at Yale. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a chaplain in the Connecticut Contingent of the Continental Army. 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, practicing at Fairfield. In 1784, Baldwin moved to Augusta, Georgia to help 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. He was appointed as a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation and then to the Constitutional Convention; in September 1787 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. He was elected as representative to the U.S. Congress in 1788. The Georgia legislature elected him as U.S. Senator in 1799 and served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate from December 1801 to December 1802. He was re-elected in 1804 and served in office until his death. Baldwin died in Washington, D.C.; his remains are interred at Rock Creek Cemetery there.