Baldwin, Abraham (1754-1807), was a Georgia signer of the Constitution of the United States. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Baldwin’s decision to vote with the small states in the dispute over representation in Congress brought about a tie among the delegates. He then helped draft the Great Compromise that settled the representation problem. See Constitution of the United States (The compromises) .
Baldwin was born on Nov. 22, 1754, in North Guilford, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1772. Three years later, he became a minister and a tutor at Yale. During the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783), he served as a chaplain in the army. After the war, Baldwin entered the legal profession.
In 1784, Baldwin moved to Georgia, where he served on the committee that helped found the state system of education. He helped establish Franklin College (now the University of Georgia). In 1785, Baldwin became a member of both the Georgia Assembly and the Congress of the Confederation. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1789 to 1799 and in the U.S. Senate from 1799 until his death on March 4, 1807.
