Abraham Baldwin was born on November 23, 1754 in Guilford Connecticut. He represented Georgia at the Constitutional Convention. Baldwin distinguished how
public service clearly demonstrated academic achievement and how it could open
opportunities in early American society. He served in the Continental Army during the climactic years of the
Revolution. There, close contact with men of widely varying economic and social
backgrounds broadened his outlook and experience. Baldwin also displayed a strong sense of nationalism. Experiences during the
war as well as his subsequent work in public education convinced him that the
future well-being of an older, more prosperous state like Connecticut was
closely linked to developments in newer states such as Georgia, where
political institutions were largely unformed and provisions for education
remained primitive. His later political career was animated by the conviction
that only a strong central government dedicated to promoting the welfare of the
citizens of all the states could guarantee the fulfillment of the ideals and
promises of the Revolution.
