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Senate Years of Service: 1799-1807 Party: Democratic Republican
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Library of Congress |
BALDWIN, Abraham, (half-brother of Henry Baldwin of Pennsylvania),
a Delegate, a Representative, and a Senator from Georgia; born in North Guilford,
Conn., November 22, 1754; moved with his father to New Haven, Conn., in 1769; attended private
schools; graduated from Yale College in 1772; subsequently studied theology at the college and was
licensed to preach in 1775; served as a tutor in that institution 1775-1779, when he resigned to enter
the Army; chaplain in the Second Connecticut Brigade, Revolutionary Army, from 1777 until 1783,
when the troops disbanded; studied law during his service in the Army; admitted to the bar in 1783 and
practiced at Fairfield; moved to Augusta, Ga., in 1784 and continued the practice of law; member of
the State house of representatives 1785; originator of the plan for, and author of, the charter of the
University of Georgia and served as president 1786-1801; member of the Continental Congress 1785,
1787, and 1788; member of the United States Constitutional Convention 1787; elected to the First
and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1789-March 3, 1799); elected to the United States
Senate in 1799; reelected in 1805 and served from March 4, 1799, until his death on March 4, 1807;
served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Seventh Congress; died in Washington,
D.C.; interment in Rock Creek Cemetery.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography;
Furlong, Patrick J. Abraham Baldwin: A Georgia Yankee as Old-Congress Man. Georgia
Historical Quarterly 56 (Spring 1972): 51-71; Coulter, E. Merton. Abraham
Baldwin: Patriot, Educator, and Founding Father. Arlington, VA: Vandamere Press,
1987.
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