Abraham Baldwin

Abraham Baldwin ( born November 23, 1754 Guilford, Connecticut; † March 4, 1807 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He represented the then British colony of Georgia in the Continental Congress and was after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States member of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Life

Abraham Baldwin was the son of a blacksmith, who with two wives had twelve children. Besides Abraham acquired two more of his siblings a certain notoriety: his younger brother Henry was Assistant Judge (Associate Justice) of the Supreme Court, his sister Ruth married the poet and statesman Joel Barlow.

After attending the local village school Baldwin began studying at Yale University in nearby New Haven, where he graduated in 1772. Three years later he took over at the same university a religious role and duties as a tutor. In 1779, Baldwin became chaplain in the Continental Army. Two years later, he turned down an offer for a professorship at Yale. Instead, he began after the War of Independence a law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1783.

Although he had rejected the professor convinced him the Governor of Georgia, Lyman Hall, to accept an offer to develop a training plan for the school and higher education of the state, a task which he accepted because he was convinced that education the key to the development of border states such as Georgia was. Baldwin was elected to the House of Representatives from Georgia and developed a concept of education in the country was also provided by the state are available to establish the University of Georgia in Athens, the first state- supported university in the United States. The university was founded on January 27, 1785 and Baldwin became the first president of the institution during the planning phase. 1801 opened the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the first college of the university, its doors. At this time, followed by Josiah Meigs by Baldwin as president of the university.

The university was architecturally modeled after Yale University, alma mater of the original Abraham Baldwin.

Continental Congress

As a result, Baldwin practiced as a lawyer in Georgia. In 1785 he was appointed to the Continental Congress. Two years later his father died; Baldwin took over his debts and provided for the education of his half-siblings. In the same year he attended the Philadelphia Convention. He was then elected to the U.S. Congress, where he served 18 years old: ten years in the House of Representatives ( 1789-1799 ), eight in the Senate ( 1799-1807 ). He was a fierce opponent of Alexander Hamilton and his policies, and in that time - in contrast to most other members born in New England - an ally of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic- Republican Party. Abraham Baldwin was a staunch supporter of slavery.

Death and estate

Baldwin died in 1807 after a short illness at the age of 53. Since he was a member of the Senate at that time, he was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington. According to him are named in south Georgia Baldwin County, Alabama and Baldwin County in Georgia as well as the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC ).

According to records Baldwins, which became public in 1987, George Washington had once privately confided to him that he did not believe the Constitution of the United States would be in force for more than 20 years.