John Ramage was an Irish American artist, goldsmith, patroller, and second lieutenant. He was best known for painting portrait miniatures, and being the first artist to paint George Washington while serving as the President of the United States.

Early Life

Ramage was born in Dublin, Ireland. He entered the Dublin Society of Artists in 1763 and began his career as a goldsmith and miniaturist. John moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1772, where he was sued for small debts in that year and in 1774. After relocating to Boston, Massachusetts, one year later, he painted miniatures on ivory, a very popular portrait style at the time.

Ramage joined “the Loyal Irish Volunteers,” in December 1775, a military unit defending Boston on behalf of the British Crown. He married Victoria Ball on March 18, 1776. Against United Colonies, Ramage, along with fellow Loyalist soldiers, evacuated from Boston to go back to Halifax, Great Britain’s stronghold on March 27, 1776, known as Siege of Boston. While in Halifax, he left Ball behind in Boston to marry a woman whose real identity was never revealed, only known as “Mrs Taylor.” They had two children together. Ball followed him to Halifax to obtain a divorce.

Ramage left Halifax and went to New York City in June 1777, “to avoid the further Pursuits of the Law,” according to Reverend Mather Byles of Halifax. While in New York, he was promoted as a second lieutenant for the City Militia. On January 29, 1787, he remarried for the third time, to Catharine Collins. Between them, they had three children.

John Ramage and Freemasonry

After serving as second lieutenant, he decided to work on miniatures in the artistic, but small community of New York. He was widely established as the best artist in the city. After painting numerous miniature portraits of New York citizens, Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, decided to select Ramage to be the first artist to paint the 1st President of the United States in office.

Ramage had joined St. John’s Lodge No. 2 while living in New York. He is listed as having been admitted on the Returns to the Grand Lodge of New York between September 1786 and December 1786, indicating he was already a Freemason and had received his degrees elsewhere.

Miniature Painting of George Washington by John Ramage

John Ramage’s Miniatures

The sitting took place October 3, 1789, possibly at Washington’s official residency at the Samuel Osgood House in New York City. Both Ramage and Washington were sharply dressed at the time of the sitting. Ramage developed two distinct miniatures of Washington.

Ramage used ivory and gold to create his elliptical shaped miniatures. For ivory, he used delicately shaded cross-hatching overlapped with fine and smooth linear strokes to model his subject’s faces. With gold, he used festoons, stippled patterns, and chased scallops.

For George Washington, Ramage used a lock of Washington’s hair with a meticulously cut “GW” cypher.

Second Miniature Painting of George Washington with Society of Cincinnati Medal by John Ramage

Later Life

Britain’s evacuation of New York may have affected Ramage’s business. In 1789, he was suing for bad debts. He ended up in dire straits in 1794. Fearful of imprisonment and debt, he fled to Montreal in 1794 to escape further debt. En route, he contracted a fever after nearly escaping drowning. His original plan was to go to Quebec to find encouragement from Lieutenant-Colonel George Beckwith, and an acquaintance from Boston, Thomas Aston Coffin. When he got to Montreal, he was in a state of “galloping consumption.”

In Lower Canada, he arrived during a period of political tension. American emissaries were cautious of British officials coming from the United States. After five weeks recovering from his fever, he found himself in jail. Ramage lamented to his wife, “I should have staid where I was, as I think the Accommodation in the gaol in New York is much better, which is all they Could do with me there.”

He was discharged from jail after a month, due to the grand jury favoring his loyalism during the American Revolution. He still held a grudge against the Montreal government as of 1795. Also in 1795, Ramage claimed he painted multiple paintings, although only being paid for two of them. In February 1796, he wrote that he did “Some very Extraordinary pictures Lately Sutch as was never Seen in Montreal before.” In November 1797, he protested to his wife, “Some things in your Letters that racks my very soul. Want of money has been the only thing that has Prevented me from flying to your Arms, as I have never been three weeks at a time in health Since I came to this Place, by my fretting and anxiety of mind for you and my Poor dear Children.”

He died there October 24, 1802, possibly due to his fever when en route to Montreal.

Workbench and tools of John Ramage (Collection of The New York Historical Society)

Ramage was friendless in Montreal, due to his disdain against his population during his exile. Only the rector, clark, and the sexton of Christ Church signed his burial record. Ramage’s fortunes was decided by a land petition he sent in February 1802. He was granted 700 acres of land in Kilkenny Township. The town was erected 30 years later; by the time the town was established, Ramage’s grant was left behind. Contemporary artist, William R. Dunlap said that Ramage was “the best artist in his branch in America.”

Miniature Portrait by Bro. John Ramage of St. John s Lodge Bro. Gilbert Van Cortland, now in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York

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Lt. Colonel Edward Antill was born on April 11, 1742 in Piscataway (Piscataqua), Province of New Jersey. He was the fourth of six children born to Edward Antill (1701-1770), a colonial plantation owner, attorney, and early politician in New Jersey, and Anne Morris (1706-1781). His maternal grandfather was Lewis Morris (1671-1746), Royal Governor of New Jersey, and his paternal grandfather was Edward Antill (c. 1659-1725), an English-born merchant and attorney.

Early Life

In 1762, Antill graduated from King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York City. He was admitted to the bar in New York, but shortly thereafter removed to Quebec, where he remained until the American Revolution began.

On May 4, 1767, Antill married Charlotte Riverin of Quebec City.

They had six children:

• Mary Antill (14 Jan 1771)
• Isabella Graham Antill (6 Mar 1768)
• Charlotte Antill (2 Sep 1769)
• Julia Antill (29 Mar 1772)
• Euphemia Antill (5 Jul 1773)
• Edward Antill (28 May 1775)
• Amelia Antill (15 May 1777)
• John Antill (15 Dec 1779)
• Harriet Antill (12 Sep 1780)
• Louisa Antill (2 Dec 1782)
• Frances Antill (4 May 1785)

Edward Antill and Freemasonry

It is clear that Edward Antill had been an active and ardent Freemason. In 1767, at a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec in the city of Quebec, a Petition was presented by the R.W. John Collins from Edward Antill Esq. of Montreal setting forth that a Deputy Grand Master for the District of Montreal “is absolutely necessary to preside more immediately over the Lodges there.” This proposal received the unanimous approbation of the Grand Lodge and a Warrant was ordered to be made out in favor of Brother Antill and sent to him as soon as possible.” Besides St. Peter’s No. 4 there were doubtless two or more Military Lodges at Montreal during this period.

Edward Antill most likely joined St. John’s Lodge No. 2 at Fishkill while he was stationed there or in 1775 when many members of the Lodge were fighting with Montgomery outside Quebec. He is also referenced as a Past Master, although the year has never been identified. It was most likely at some point in the early 1780’s when the Lodge returned from Fish Kill to New York City and while Captain William Tapp, the Master from 1776 to the end of the War, was still stationed upstate.

In Calcott’s Disquisitions, published in 1772, he is listed as a subscriber and a resident of the Province of New York who is a Right Worshipful and Deputy Grand Master of the Province of Quebec.

Military Service

Edward had been in Canada ten years when the Revolution began, and being in Quebec in the Fall of 1775, when that city was besieged by the American troops, he refused to respond to the call of the governor of the city to take up arms in its defence; and was sent out to the American lines, and gladly assigned to duty with the 2nd Canadian Regiment (also known as the Congress’s Own) serving as chief engineer of the army, by General Montgomery. He was with that gallant officer when he fell, and was dispatched by General Wooster to relate the particulars to General Schuyler and the Continental Congress.

After the failed attack on Quebec, Antill was sent by General Wooster to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On January 22, 1776, he received a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of Colonel Hazen’s Second Canadian Regiment^[1], and in May, 1776, General Benedict Arnold assigned him to duty as Adjutant General of the American Army in Canada.

Congress’s Own was even then a strong regiment – seven hundred and twenty men – but Congress appears to have valued it in ordering it to be it to be recruited in any of the States to four battalions of five companies each, with four Majors and other officers in proportion.

Sixteen companies, however, appear to have been the fullest complement of what was known as

“Congress’ Own,” It had evacuated Canada, under General Sullivan, and therefore continued in his Brigade, which served with the main army at Trenton and Princeton, and later, in protecting the lines at Morristown. On the 8th of January, 1777, General Washington wrote him from his headquarters there a letter suggestive of coming action:

Call upon all your officers who are upon recruiting service to exert themselves as much as possible in filling their companies and sending their recruits forward to some general place of rendezvous, that they may be armed, equipped and got into service, with as much expedition as possible. As you and Colonel Hazien had the nomination of your own officers by virtue of your commissions, I shall have no objection to any gentleman of good character whom you may think fit to appoint,

On the 24th of February following, Richard Peters, Secretary of War, urges, in a letter, upon Colonel Antill, then commanding the regiment, the necessity, from impending events, of promptness in hurrying his companies forward to unite in meeting the enemy.

In complying, the regiment was soon actively engaged under Sullivan, and when he attacked the rear of Howe’s army on Staten Island, consisting of three thousand British and loyalists, with eight hundred men on the 22nd of June 1777, after partial success succumbed to the vigorous resistance, he became a prisoner, thereby losing his opportunity of being present at Brandywine, Germantown, and in much important service with his regiment.

He remained on a prison ship on the Hudson River for three years. Happily for him, his brother John^[2], then in the British service, was one day sent to examine the condition of the prisoners, and the first person he saw among them was his own brother Edward, whose release he soon effected. He and other American officers made a return, at Flat Bush on Long Island, August 15, 1778, of the officers and other prisoners on Long Island for purposes of exchange. In August, 1779, he was still at large on Long Island, on parole.

While a paroled prisoner of war at Flat Bush, Long Island, Edward Antill wrote or copied a group of scientific papers. Subjects include “The principles of geology and astronomy,” “Elements of chronology,” “Elements of all the syllables within the English language,” “A table of the sun’s declination from 1764 to 1795,” and a table showing the number of miles to each degree of longitude and latitude.

His exchange was effected Nov. 2, 1780. In a letter from General George Washington, he is ordered to meet up with Hazen’s Regiment:

Sir, Head Quarters New Windsor June 1st 1781

You will proceed immediately with Colonel Hazen’s Regiment to Albany and put yourself under the orders of Brigadier General Clinton.

I am, Sir, etc.

G. Washington

P.S. Be pleased to deliver to General Clinton, the letter forwarded herewith.

Letter from George Washington to Edward Antill

Upon his release, he followed and rejoined the 2nd Canadian Regiment re-joining them at Fishkill, NY, and soon afterwards assisted in routing the quarters of Colonel James de Lancey at Morrisania, for which he earned the thanks of Washington in general orders.

In August he marched to Philadelphia, joining Colonel Olney’s Rhode Islanders, and proceeding by the Chesapeake and James River to Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. At the Battle of Yorktown, Edward Antill and Alexander Hamilton each led regiments under General Moses Hazen, leading to a friendship between the men. After the war, Antill’s daughter Mary married a young New Yorker who had led one of the charges at Yorktown under Hamilton, Gerrit G. Lansing.

On Jan. 7, 1782, he returned 77 men of his regiment belonging to the Pennsylvania line, who had not received the gratuity allowed them.

Although he had asked Congress to be relieved from service in an earlier period of inactivity, he continued therein until the disbanding of his regiment in November, 1783.

Not found on the Half-Pay Roll, he appears on the Balloting Book of New York in the list of Canadian and Nova Scotia refugees, who had united with the Americans, to whom lands were granted by the State under the direction of its commissioners.

He was retired from the service on January 1, 1783. He subscribed his name to the Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati with the officers of his regiment on the Parchment Roll, with Washington at its head, now in the possession of the General Society.

Post Military

He was licensed as an attorney in New Jersey at the November Term in 1783. About this time, he opened a law office in New York City at No. 25 Water Street and later moved to No. 87 Broadway at the corner of Wall Street. In a letter dated “31 Golden Hill, New York City,” December 16, 1785, he applied to John Jay, then Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to be appointed Translator in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Secretary Jay replied with his compliments that the office was not vacant.

After the Revolutionary War, Antill soon fell upon hard times, and he suffered a breakdown after the death of his wife Charlotte in 1785. In 1787, he left his youngest child, two-year-old Frances (Fanny) Antill, in the care of Alexander Hamilton (who was then a lawyer in New York City) and his wife Elizabeth. The below is from the famed biography of Alexander Hamilton by John Church Hamilton in 1879:

Colonel Antil [sic] of the Canadian Corps, a friend of General Hazen, retired penniless from the service—his military claims, a sole dependence, being unsatisfied. Hoping to derive subsistence from the culture of a small clearing in the forest, he retired to the wilds of Hazenburgh. His hopes were baffled, and in his distress he applied to Hamilton for relief. His calamities were soon after embittered by the loss of his wife, leaving infant children. With one of these Antil visited New York, to solicit the aid of the Cincinnati, and there sank under the weight of his sorrows. Hamilton immediately took the little orphan home, who was nurtured with his own children…

Death

He joined his brother John two years later and on May 23, 1789, Antill died in Canada at Saint-Jean, on the Richeliue River, near Montreal. He was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, New York, in 1789, but probably died before he could fill the office.

Fanny continued to live with the Hamiltons for another eight years, until she was twelve, at which time her older sister Mary was married and able to take Fanny into her own home. Later, James Alexander Hamilton would write that Fanny “was educated and treated in all respects as (the Hamiltons’) own daughter.” She later married Arthur Tappan, a prosperous merchant and abolitionist.

[1]

Antill served with Alexander Hamilton in Hazen’s Brigade and Hamilton’s wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, served as godmother to Antill’s daughter Harriet.

[2]

John Antill served as a Major in the British Army. He was also a Freemason and listed as a Worshipful and Grand Deacon in New York in 1772, but the Lodge is unidentified.

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Early Life

Ebenezer Foote was born April 12, 1756, in Colchester, CT. He was the son of Daniel Foote and the brother of Eli Foote whose daughter Roxana married Rev. Lyman Beecher and was the mother of Henry Ward Beecher, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others of that talented family. Some of the Foote family espoused the loyalist cause in the Revolutionary war; but Ebenezer was an ardent patriot, and when the first guns were fired be, with several other young men, fled from home without his father’s permission and joined the patriotic troops near Boston. He was present with the Minutemen at the battle of Bunker Hill, fought in Trenton, and survived the winter at Valley Forge continuously serving until the close of the war. For his bravery and efficiency he was promoted from the ranks in which he enlisted to the position of Major. He attracted the attention of Washington and was by him assigned to staff duty.

Capture and Escape

He was taken prisoner by the British at the capture of Fort Washington, on York Island, in November, 1776, and was confined with many others in the Bridewell prison in New York city. Along with a number of others he formed a plan to escape. They managed to elude their guards and found themselves in the country near where Chambers Street now is. They made their way to the Hudson river with the intention of crossing it to New Jersey.

They found an old leaky boat, but they were unable to make it sufficiently safe. All the other fugitives then took to the land and tried to make their way through the hostile sentinels to the country north of them. But Foote found a plank and with it undertook to swim the Hudson. It was in the month of December 1777 and the water was piteously cold. He succeeded, however, in escaping the patrolling vessels, and in making his way to the other side. He landed at Hoboken where he found shelter and dry clothes. He escaped, but he never recovered wholly from the effects of this terrible exposure. His patriotism, however, would not allow him to remain an outsider, and we next find him in the Commissary Department at General Washington’s headquarters on the Hudson, where he remained until his health again forced his resignation just before the close of the war. He saw much of Washington; was temporarily on his Staff, and retired with the rank of Major.

On August 3, 1780, the traitor Benedict Arnold assumed command of the garrison at West Point, New York, and began to secretly negotiate its surrender to the British.

On September 4th, Benedict Arnold wrote to Ebenezer Foote ordering him, as inspector of cattle in the Continental Army’s Commissary Department, to move cattle from the countryside to West Point, because, according to this letter, he had “reason to believe the Garrison here will soon be greatly augmented the Demand for Cattle will of Course be greater.” On the surface, it appears that Arnold was attempting to secure adequate supplies for the American troops. However, in hindsight we know that Arnold already planned to turn the garrison over to the British.

Capt Foote, in the early morning of Sept. 22, 1780, for a few moments held the fate of that gallant soldier, Major Andre, in his hands. As officer in command at Crompond in Westchester, New York, Capt. Foote scanned the pass produced by Andre, but knowing Benedict Arnold and his writing well, and seeing that his appended signature was correct, allowed the party to proceed.

Post War

Major Foote, from his rank in the Revolutionary Army, became a member of the Order of Cincinnati, and up to the time of his death took great pleasure in joining his comrades on the fourth of July to celebrate the achievement of American independence. At the close of the war he only possessed the back pay which was due to him for his services. Part of this was paid to him in money; and a part was liquidated by a grant of unsettled land on the West branch of the Delaware river. He entrusted the certificate of his army pay to an agent for collection and was defrauded him out of the whole. He had married in 1779 Jerusha Purdy, a member of the Westchester family of that name. Her property also had been mostly destroyed by the British troops in their incursions into the regions north of New York.

Major Foote had, therefore, to commence life anew. He started in a mercantile career at Newburgh which was then in Ulster county. In this he must have been more or less successful; for we find that several times he was chosen to represent the county in the State Legislature. He is recorded as having been in the Assembly in 1792, 1794, 1796 and 1797. It was during this latter year that the bill for the erection of Delaware county was under discussion, and Major Foote took an active part in perfecting and securing the passage of the measure. He served as Senator from the Middle District during the years 1798-1802. In 1799 he was chosen to serve as a member of the Council of

Appointment under Governor John Jay.

On the establishment of the new county he was appointed by the Governor the county clerk, and immediately removed thither to assume his duties. At this time it must be remembered that there was no village of Delhi. There were two sites which were looked upon as likely to become the location of the proposed county buildings. One of these was at the mouth of Elk Creek on the grounds of Gideon Frisbee. Here already the first meeting of the board of supervisors had been held and the county court had held its first session. The other was the extensive flat at the mouth of the Little Delaware. There is a tradition that some of the early county meetings and courts were held in the latter locality at the house of Mr. Leal. It was near this beautiful intervale that the land lay which had been granted to Major Foote for his military services; and it was near this on the south that he selected a site and built a residence for himself. The building is still standing but has passed out of the possession of his descendants.

No citizen of Delaware has ever enjoyed a more distinguished circle of acquaintance. He knew and corresponded with the most active political managers of the day, and many of them were his guests at Arbor Hill. We may mention a few from whom letters are still preserved by his descendants: The Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer, Hon. Elisha Williams, Governor Morgan Lewis, General Schuyler, the Livingstons, Cadwallader Colden, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Philip Van Cortlandt, Martin Van Buren, John Jay, DeWitt Clinton, and Aaron Burr.

He was one of those gentlemen said to be “of the old school” because their bearing and manner were more refined than “modern degeneracy” requires.

Ebenezer Foote and Freemasonry

He was one of the original petitioners and first Master of Steuben Lodge No. 18, the first Masonic lodge in Orange County. On the 4th of June 1788, the minutes of the Grand Lodge of New York received a petition for a warrant to hold a lodge at Newburgh under the name of Steuben. Baron von Steuben was an honorary member of the lodge. During their first meeting, Brother Andrew Billings (also a member of St. John’s No. 2) was asked by the Grand Lodge of New York to attend and ensure they were perfunctory in their work.

Letter from Benedict Arnold to Ebenezer Foote

From the minutes, “Brother Billings was pleased to favor this body with a learned and well adapted lecture on this occasion, which bespoke the characteristics of a scholar, a gentleman and a sincere brother, after which the Lodge was closed until the first Tuesday after the next full moon: and after spending the remainder of the evening in the utmost harmony and good will, each brother departed for their respective homes, with hearts full of such brotherly love as is only peculiar to true ancient Free and Accepted Masons.”

General Malcom (St. John’s No. 2 member) visited Steuben Lodge No. 18 on September 23rd, 1789, in his capacity as Deputy Grand Master.

Stationed at Fishkill, NY in the Winter of 1779 as Superintendent of Live Stock for the Army. Most likely initiated by St. John’s No. 2 while there given his young age.

Ebenezer Foote’s Grave Marker

Ebenezer Foote’s Grave Marker

From Ebenezer Foote’s Grave Marker in Foote Family Cemetery, Delaware County, New York:

In memory of Ebenezer Foote, Esq. who died December 28, 1829 in his 75 year. He was a man of spotless integrity, unwearied diligence, and perseverance, and by his own intellectual powers and moral worth, he arose to an enviable distinction in society and has left many memorials of honorable fame as a legacy to his posterity. Cherish the memory of the Wise, the Great, and the Good!

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Abraham Baldwin was born in 1754 in Guilford, Connecticut into a large family. His father was a blacksmith. His half-brother, Henry Baldwin, was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. After attending a local village school, Abraham Baldwin attended Yale University in nearby New Haven, Connecticut, where he was a member of the Linonian Society. He graduated in 1772.

Three years later after theological study, he became a minister. He also served as a tutor at the college. He held that position until 1779. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a chaplain in the Connecticut Contingent of the Continental Army.

Baldwin apparently served as a chaplain with Connecticut forces on a part-time basis during the early stages of the war, and finally in February 1779 he was appointed as a chaplain in Brigadier General Samuel H. Parsons’ brigade, remaining with the unit until June 1783. The duties of a Revolutionary War chaplain were quite extensive. In addition to caring for the spiritual needs of 1,500 or so soldiers, Baldwin assumed a major responsibility for maintaining the morale of the men and for guarding their physical welfare. He served as a political advisor to the brigade commander and subordinate regimental commanders, and helped the soldiers understand the basis for the conflict and thereby heightened their sense of mission and dedication to the Patriot cause. Although Baldwin’s unit did not participate in combat during the last four years of the war, it still played a major role in Washington’s defensive strategy.

The Connecticut brigades were assigned to garrison duty near West Point where they helped secure vital communications along the Hudson River and guard this critical base area against British invasions. They performed their mission well; the Continental brigades in the Hudson Valley formed the bedrock of Washington’s main army against which no British general was likely to attack. With his center thus secured, Washington was free to launch successful offensive operations against smaller enemy forces in other parts of the country. The soldiers in Baldwin’s brigade eventually trained for an amphibious attack on the British at New York City late in the war, but the plan was not put into effect. Baldwin’s service as a chaplain proved vital to the Patriot cause. Baldwin’s Connecticut brigade had weathered the darkest days of the war, and in other units the deprivations of the long war exacted a toll on morale, leading to desertions and occasional mutinies in the 1780s. The Connecticut units, however, remained among the most reliable. Thanks in great part to the success of leaders like Baldwin, the troops had been thoroughly educated in the nation’s war aims and the need for extended service. As a result, Connecticut stood firm.

Post War

Two years later at the conclusion of the war, Baldwin declined an offer from Yale for a divinity professorship. Instead of resuming his ministerial or educational vocation after the war, he turned to the study of law. In 1783 he was admitted to the bar.

Baldwin was recruited by Governor Lyman Hall of Connecticut to work for the Georgia governor in developing a state education plan. He moved to Georgia, where he became active in politics to build support for a college. He was appointed as a delegate to the Confederation Congress and the Constitutional Convention, and was one of the state’s two signatories to the U.S. Constitution.

Abraham Baldwin was appointed in 1785 to serve as the first president of the University of Georgia during its initial planning phase to 1801. During this period, he also worked with the legislature on the college charter.

In 1801, Franklin College, the University of Georgia’s initial college, opened to students. Josiah Meigs was hired to succeed Baldwin as first acting president and oversee the inaugural class of students.

The first buildings of the college were architecturally modeled on Baldwin’s and Miegs’s alma mater of Yale where they both we educators. Later the university sports team adopted as its mascot, the bulldog, also in tribute to Baldwin and Miegs, as it is the mascot of Yale.

Baldwin was elected to the Georgia Assembly, where he became very active, working to develop support for the college. He was able to mediate between the rougher frontiersmen, perhaps because of his childhood as the son of a blacksmith, and the aristocratic planter elite who dominated the coastal Lowcountry. He became one of the most prominent legislators, pushing significant measures such as the education bill through the sometimes split Georgia Assembly.

In 1787 Georgia called on Baldwin to serve in the Constitutional Convention, and he helped draw up the Great Compromise, whereby all states had an equal voice in the Senate with two Senators each but the rights of the majority in a house of House of Representatives based on population. His role in this compromise was widely recognized and Baldwin himself considered his work in drafting the Constitution as his most important public service.

He was elected as representative to the U.S. Congress in 1788. The Georgia legislature elected him as U.S. Senator in 1799 (this was the practice until popular election in 1913). He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate from December 1801 to December 1802. He was re-elected and served in office until his death.

Death

On March 4,1807, at age 52, Baldwin died while serving as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Later that month the Savannah Republican and Savannah Evening Ledger reprinted an obituary that had first been published in a Washington, D.C., newspaper: “He originated the plan of The University of Georgia, drew up the charter, and with infinite labor and patience, in vanquishing all sorts of prejudices and removing every obstruction, he persuaded the assembly to adopt it.”

The United States Postal Service made a 7¢ Great Americans series postage stamp in his honor; Places and institutions were named for him, including:

• Baldwin County in Alabama and Georgia;Abraham Baldwin
• Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia;
• Abraham Baldwin Middle School in Guilford, Connecticut;
• Baldwin streets in Madison, Wisconsin and Athens, Georgia;

The University of Georgia erected a statue of Baldwin on the historic North Campus quad in his honor as its founding father.

Statue at the University of Georgia

His remains are interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Gravesite of Abraham Baldwin at Rock Creek Cemetery

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