Signer of the Constitution, Abraham Baldwin

Despite being from a larger state, when the final vote was made, Baldwin sided with the smaller states in favor of equal representation. ~ from the Georgia Historical Society Site

The Baldwin brothers, Abraham (6C7X) and Henry (6C7X) were sons of Michael Baldwin (5C8X) of Guilford, Connecticut. Both brothers served the United States as government officials. Abraham (6C7X), from Michael's first marriage, was 26 years older than his younger brother, Henry (6C7X) from the second marriage. This post deals with Abraham and we'll have Henry's story in our next post.

Abraham's early life

Most of the information I have on our cousin Abraham comes from the Georgia Historical Socieity website.

Abraham Baldwin was born in 1754 in Guilford, CT. When he was only 4, Abraham’s mother died, leaving his father, Michael, with five children.  Ten years later, Michael remarried and had seven more children with his second wife.

Michael was a blacksmith in Guilford but he believed very strongly in the value of a good education, so much so, that he "went heavily into debt to educate them."  He even moved his business and family to New Haven for a time to make it easier for his children to attend Yale University which was located there.

Abraham's first chosen profession was the mininstry. After graduating in 1772, he continued on at Yale to study theology and, in 1775 was "licensed to preach." Abraham, however, didn't take a post as minister. Instead, hechose to stay at the college as a tutor, where he conducted classes for the freshmen, sophomores and juniors.  Two of his students were Noah Webster of dictionary fame and Oliver Wolcott who was a founding father and signer of the declaration of independence.

Just as Abraham was beginning his teaching career, the Revolutionary War began. New Haven was invaded by the British in 1777 and Yale moved its students to Glastonbury, CT. In 1778, Abraham decided to do his part for the war effort by becoming a chaplain for the Continental Army. Chaplain duties included preaching on Sundays, holding prayer meetings, visiting sick and wounded soldiers, and writing letters for soldiers who were unable to write for themselves.  In a letter to a friend, Abraham described his days: "I read French, write, and make visits from morning till night, and then sleep from night till morning.” 

In 1779, Abraham was with Washington's army during the harsh winter at Morristown, New Jersey. In another letter, he wrote about conditions, particularly the hunger which he thought was "very like to continue for the winter—nothing to eat or drink for men or cattle or at least not half allowance and no prospect of that much longer.”

the law, higher education and raising six children

In 1781, when the war was winding down, Yale offered Abraham a position as a professor of divinity but he had other ideas already floating in his head. During his chaplain years in the war, his association with men like George Washington and General Nathaniel Green "had expanded his vision beyond Yale." In addition to his chaplain duties, Abraham had begun studying law in his spare time and this third profession appealed to him. In April of 1783, he received a license to practice law. He was discharged from the army a month later and, shortly afterwards, made a move to Georgia. Abraham had been "encouraged" to make this move by his friend Nathaniel Greene who had been gifted property there by the state of Georgia.

(1) Guilford, CT (2) Augusta, GA

In Georgia, Abraham "immediately began a very successful (law) practice." By 1785, he was also deeply involved in developing a state education plan. When plans were initiated later that year to establish an institution of higher learning in Athens, GA, Abraham was named the school's first president. He held that post for fifteen years, throughout the entire building phase of the institution. Today, Abraham is known not only as the founder of the University of Georgia, he is "considered by many to be the father of the American state university system."

For Abraham, it was only onward and upward from there. In October of 1785, he was granted 200 acres in Wilkes County. He settled in Augusta and, a mere two months, later he was elected by his fellow citizens to the Georgia state legislature.

In 1787, Abraham's father Michael died leaving seven children from his second marriage ranging in age from 17 to an infant. Abraham, who was 33 at the time, took custody of 6 of his younger half-siblings and "reared, housed, and educated them at his own expense."  At the time, his brother Henry was 7 years old.

the Constitutional Convention

Just one month after Abraham took in his siblings to raise, he was honored to participate in an event that would not only be monumental for the nation, but also his main claim to fame. The United States Constitutional Convention convened for the first time on May 25, 1787. Abraham had been elected to serve as a delegate to that convention and he played a major role in deciding how states should be represented in Congress. From the Georgia Historical Society site:

Larger states wanted representation based on population, while smaller states wanted equal representation.  Despite being from a larger state, when the final vote was made, Baldwin sided with the smaller states in favor of equal representation. By doing so, he split the vote and ended the contest for the time being so a real compromise could be worked out.

A special committee was formed with one delegate from each state. Baldwin was chosen to represent Georgia.  In order to settle the matter quickly, the committee went straight to work on a solution. Their work resulted in The Great Compromise – a bicameral legislature – which included the Senate (or upper house) where each state would have equal representation, and the House of Representatives (or lower house) where the number of delegates would be determined by each state’s population.

Note: The state most concerned about equal representation was tiny Rhode Island which "had a history of resisting centralized authority and favored the Articles of Confederation, which established a weak central government." So opposed was Rhode Island to the new constitution, they sent no representative to the convention.

Abraham took his constitution duties very seriously. His working copy of the Constitution, now housed in the Georgia Historical Society collection, shows his handwritten notes in the text, along the margins and on the back:

Abraham's views on slavery probably reflected the the fact that he lived in a slave state. During the Convention, he argued that the legality of slavery should be "a matter left to the individual states and was not the purview of the federal government." And, in what was only a pipe dream, Abraham erroneously added that Georgia, “if left to herself,” might be inclined to “put a stop to the evil.” Whether Abraham himself owned slaves isn't known. Henry Clay White, a noted chemist at the University of Georgia who wrote a biography of Abraham, wrote that he “probably did not.”

The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. 39 delegates, signed the document at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  Only twelve of the original thirteen colonies were represented because of Rhode Island's failure to show. It wasn't until May of 1790 that the small state finally capitulated and joined the other twelve states.

Shown below are the signatures on the newly created constitution. Abraham's is on the bottom left from the state of Georgia. Other notables are James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.

Note: Signer Roger Sherman from Connecticut was a grandfather of his namesake, our cousin Roger Sherman Baldwin (5C7X), who was an attorney for the Africans in the Amistad case. We'll have Roger's story in a future post.

As one of the signers of the United States Constitution, Abraham is included in the painting "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chandler Christy. This painting hangs in the east stairway in the House wing of the United States Capitol. In the painting, Abraham is the man standing second from the far left.

A statue of Abraham is also included in Signer's Hall, a permanent exhibit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which was created in 2003.  In the photo below, Abraham is the central figure in the front. Peeking around his left shoulder is the diminutive James Madison.

In the first U. S. congressional elections held from November 1788 to June 1789, Abraham was elected to the House of Representatives for the state of Georgia. In April of 1789, he attended George Washington's presidential inauguration. Abraham would continue his life in politics, serving as a member of the House of Representatives from 1789-1799, and a member of the Senate from 1799 until his death in 1807.  He served under three presidents, George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, mostly orchestrated by James Madison, are known as the Bill of Rights. Abraham served on the committee which oversaw the adoption of these amendments which were ratified in December of 1791.

In his first term as U.S. senator in 1798, Abraham was "elected by his colleagues to serve a term as Senate Pro Tempore. In this capacity, he presided over the Senate when the Vice President was unavailable"

From the Georgia Historical Society site:

Abraham Baldwin was a strong supporter of Thomas Jefferson. One keen interest they both shared was the establishment of a congressional library. During the Jefferson presidency, Baldwin, at that time a Senator, served on a committee to appropriate funds for a Library of Congress. President Jefferson asked for his help to select books and maps for the library’s collection. It is suggested that Baldwin is second only to Jefferson in the amount of time spent to build the collection of the Library of Congress.

Abraham was also passionate about educating the citizens of the U.S. about its laws:

In an uncharacteristic lengthy speech, Baldwin spoke about the need to inform people in every state of the laws passed by Congress. “Those whose eyes are weak, or who sit in bad light, are most easily made to see specters and goblins, in their most hideous forms. The only cure against these mischiefs is to pour light into every corner of the country. Let all the measures of government be accompanied by a blaze of day and like the birds of the night these animals are dislodged.” Baldwin suggested that federal laws should be sent to all county courthouses. In 1795, a law was passed providing for books of laws to be sent to each state’s governor for distribution to each county within the state.

Abraham died on March 4, 1807 after having attended a Senate session the day before. He was only 53 years old at the time. He was given a state funeral that was "attended by numerous government dignitaries."

While Abraham never married or had children of his own, he devoted his life to his siblings and his country. According to biographer Merton Coulter:

His amazing career spanning the turbulent founding years of the new republic left him no time to marry or raise a family; rather, he helped raise a nation.

In 1985, one of the 7-cent stamps in the Great Americans Series featured Abraham. It was issued in conjunction with Founders Week celebrations at the University of Georgia. From the Smithsonian National Postal Museum site:

(Abraham Baldwin) wrote the charter for Franklin College, the oldest college at the University of Georgia in 1785. That charter was the first document of its kind to establish a state university in the United States. Baldwin based the document on the theory that a popular government can succeed only when its citizens are educated. He said that America's youth were "the rising hope of our land."

We'll leave the last word on Abraham to the Georgia Historical Society:

Abraham Baldwin was a quiet, studious, thoughtful man.  He is not one of the more colorful and memorable of the Founding Fathers, but he was a dedicated servant and leader who played a major role in crafting the form of government that we enjoy today.  Abraham devoted most of his life to serving Georgia and the newly created American republic. . .[He] is a figure from Georgia’s past worthy of our study, respect and admiration.