BALDWIN COUNTY. 137 



for a part of the war, a chaplain in the Continental army. 

 At its close, he studied law. Georgia, then a frontier State, 

 offered inducements to emigrants. Mr. Baldwin arrived at 

 Savannah, in 1784 ; was immediately admitted a counsellor at 

 the Georgia bar, and fixed his residence in Columbia county. 

 In three months he had gained so greatly the confidence of 

 the people of that county, that they elected him a member of 

 the Legislature. It is believed, generally, that he originated 

 the plan of the University of Georgia, drew up its charter, 

 and persuaded the Legislature to adopt it. We do not find 

 that the merit of this work has been assigned to any other. 

 Mr. Baldwin was a man of decided literary and scientific 

 mind, and it is very certain that he was one of the most ac- 

 tive supporters of the University. Let him be deemed, then, 

 its father. 



Two years had not transpired before Mr. Baldwin was 

 elected to Congress. In 1786, he took his seat. From that 

 year, until his death in 1807, he was a member at every ses- 

 sion, either of the House or of the Senate. In the Federal 

 Convention that framed the Constitution, he was a delegate 

 from Georgia, taking an active part in the deliberations of that 

 illustrious body. With his previous legislative experience and 

 his knowledge of the Constitution, from being one of its au- 

 thors, the people of the middle district of Georgia considered 

 his services necessary to setting the government in motion. 

 We accordingly find Mr. Baldwin a representative under the 

 new Constitution in 1789. He was one of the wisest and one 

 of the most respected debaters in the new Congress. Upon 

 many important topics, the journals of debates show Mr. 

 Baldwin to have taken a prominent part. The venerable Na- 

 thaniel Macon assured the late Col. Tattnall, in 182G, review- 

 ing in conversation the members who had served from Geor- 

 gia, that the eloquence of Mr. Baldwin was of the highest 

 order, and his reasoning powers equal to those of any other 

 statesman in Congress. In 1802, Mr. Baldwin was one of 

 the Commissioners of Georgia, who negotiated and signed the 

 treaty of cession of our western territory to the United States. 

 He was president pro tempore of the Senate of the United 

 States, from April to December, 1802. Preferring the floor 



