A LOOK AT THE
FOUNDING FATHERS
WHO ARE FOREVER LINKED
TO GEORGIA,
With an Emphasis on Abraham Baldwin
Presented by F. Lewis Smith, Keynote Speaker
(Event Photos Below)
Our country’s Founding Fathers are the patriots who created our government and forged our new Nation. They were the leading statesmen during the American Revolution and were responsible for the successful war for independence, the ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence, and the republican form of government established in the U.S. Constitution. Thomas Jefferson in 1805 referred to our first settlers in the New World as ‘forefathers’. At his 1825 inauguration, John Quincy Adams called the Constitution ‘the work of our forefathers’ and expressed his gratitude to the ‘founders of the Union’. The following year, upon the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and his father John Adams, Adams said they were ‘Fathers’ and ‘Founders of the Republic’. That’s how the name, the ‘Founding Fathers’, came to be.
The signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and our Constitution are the ‘Founding Fathers’ of our country. However, like other generations, many of them were unsure if succeeding generations would be up to the task of protecting the liberty they had secured. They wondered if future Americans would nurture the beliefs for which our patriots fought and died.
We’re all familiar with the Declaration and our Constitution but what was the Articles of Confederation? Well, by definition, Articles are a list of written rules and regulations, and a Confederation is a political union of sovereign states united for a common action. So, our Articles of Confederation created a national government composed of an assembly of men called a Congress, which had the power to declare war, sign treaties, make alliances, and appoint ambassadors.
Many unnamed statesmen contributed to the creation of the United States, but seven are considered by most scholars as the principal Founding Fathers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. They all played key roles in securing our independence from Great Britain and in the establishment of the government of the United States. Many other patriots played smaller but valuable roles, including the 56 signers of the Declaration and the 39 signers of the Constitution. Many women, such as Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren, also played important roles.
Historians acknowledge that ten men are Founders specifically linked to Georgia. Three, George Walton, Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, signed the Declaration of Independence for Georgia in 1776 and are definitely Georgia Founders. Three lesser-known men, Edward Langworthy, Edward Telfair and John Walton, signed the Articles of Confederation for Georgia in 1777 and are in the group, too. Two men, William Few and Abraham Baldwin, signed the Constitution in 1787 and are Georgia Founders as well. Additionally, the U.S. National Archives includes two rather obscure men as Georgia Founding Fathers – William Houston and William Pierce. They each represented us for a short time in the Continental Congress.
Now I’m sure that over the years you have heard many interesting and informative programs focused on ‘the Signers’, the three Georgia signers of the Declaration who are represented here at their monument. George Walton and Lyman Hall lie here, but Button Gwinnett’s remains are unmarked somewhere in the old Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah. You know those three men, you’ve studied those men, so I’m not going to further mention those beloved patriots.
Now I’m sure that over the years you have heard many interesting and informative programs focused on ‘the Signers’, the three Georgia signers of the Declaration who are represented here at their monument. George Walton and Lyman Hall lie here, but Button Gwinnett’s remains are unmarked somewhere in the old Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah. You know those three men, you’ve studied those men, so I’m not going to further mention those beloved patriots.
Three Georgians, Edward Langworthy, Edward Telfair, and John Walton,
signed the Articles of Confederation in 1777 :
signed the Articles of Confederation in 1777 :
Edward Langworthy
Edward Telfair
|
Edward Langworthy, a teacher and a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress, was a Founding Father because he signed the Articles of Confederation. Raised in the Bethesda Orphan House in Savannah, Langworthy at 37 became the secretary for the revolutionary Council of Safety in 1775. Sent to the Continental Congress, he arrived just in time to sign the Articles. He served in the U.S. Congress until 1779. Edward moved to Baltimore where he became a newspaper owner and editor, an instructor at a local Academy, and the clerk of customs for Baltimore. He died of yellow fever in 1802 and was buried in Baltimore at the Old Episcopal Church.
Edward Telfair (born 1735 in Scotland) was a politician and slave trader who served as Georgia’s governor for six years. During the Revolution, Telfair was a member of the Committee of Safety and a delegate to the Georgia Provincial Congress. Elected to the Continental Congress four separate years, Telfair was a Founding Father because he signed the Articles of Confederation. Interred initially in Savannah in 1807 at Sharon Plantation, Telfair’s remains were moved to Bonaventure Cemetery in the late 1800s. John Walton was born in Virginia in 1738 and eventually settled at his plantation south of Augusta. In 1775 he was a Provincial Congress delegate from St. Paul Parish in Savannah and a member of the Continental Congress where he signed the Articles of Confederation on behalf of Georgia. He was a surveyor of Richmond County for several years before his death at his plantation in 1783. Walton's brother was the illustrious George Walton, who needs no introduction. |
Additionally, the U. S. National Archives includes two rather obscure men
as Georgia Founding Fathers – William Houston and William Pierce:
as Georgia Founding Fathers – William Houston and William Pierce:
William Houston
William Pierce
|
William Houston, a member of the royal government of Georgia, was born in 1755 in Savannah. With the onset of the Revolution, William was among the first in Georgia to demand resistance to British aggression. He represented Georgia in the Continental Congress from 1783 through 1786. He was chosen to settle a boundary dispute with South Carolina and was one of the original trustees of the University of Georgia. When the Constitutional Convention convened in 1787, Houston was a Georgia delegate, but he stayed for only a short time. Although he died in Savannah in 1813, he was interred in St. Paul's Chapel in New York City.
William Pierce, born in Georgia in 1740, grew up in Virginia. During the Revolutionary War, Pierce was an aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathanael Greene and attained the rank of major. For his conduct at the battle of Eutaw Springs, Congress presented him with a ceremonial sword. Pierce left the army in 1783, married and made his home in Savannah. He was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and was also elected to the Continental Congress where he was very influential and participated in major debates. Pierce approved the Constitution but had to leave the proceedings early to try to save his business. He failed and went bankrupt. Two years later, in 1789, Pierce died, covered in debt. |
William Few’s ancestors emigrated from England to Pennsylvania in the 1680s. William’s family moved near Baltimore where William was born in 1748. They then moved to North Carolina where the men joined a group who opposed North Carolina’s royal governor, a tyrant. As a result, Few’s brother was hanged, the family farm was destroyed, so they moved once again, this time to Georgia. In 1768 his family settled near Wrightsborough, the 43,000-acre Quaker settlement seven miles northwest of Thomson. Few won admittance to the bar and set up his practice in Augusta. Since 1780, Few had been representing Georgia in the Continental Congress where he and Abraham Baldwin signed the Constitution. Few then served in the Georgia Assembly and negotiated treaties with the Native Americans who threatened Augusta and its environs.
Few was a founding trustee of the University of Georgia in 1785. His efforts to establish UGA as the first state-chartered university in the United States indicates the importance this self-educated man gave to formal instruction. Few was one of Georgia’s two first U.S. senators. In 1796 Few was appointed as a federal judge for the Georgia circuit. Few resigned the judgeship in 1799 at the age of 52 and moved to New York City, his wife’s home, where his career continued to blossom. Few died in 1828 and was buried in New York’s Reformed Dutch Church yard. He was later reinterred at St. Paul's Church, here in Augusta.
Few was a founding trustee of the University of Georgia in 1785. His efforts to establish UGA as the first state-chartered university in the United States indicates the importance this self-educated man gave to formal instruction. Few was one of Georgia’s two first U.S. senators. In 1796 Few was appointed as a federal judge for the Georgia circuit. Few resigned the judgeship in 1799 at the age of 52 and moved to New York City, his wife’s home, where his career continued to blossom. Few died in 1828 and was buried in New York’s Reformed Dutch Church yard. He was later reinterred at St. Paul's Church, here in Augusta.
Abraham Baldwin represented Georgia at the Constitutional Convention. I don’t think we know him like we should. He was a great man, a quiet, educated, intelligent man of the cloth, an Army Chaplain, of all things. He was a patriot and a passionate supporter of public education who believed an informed citizenry was essential to the wellbeing of our democracy. He believed in a free and independent, unbiased press that presented facts to the public and not opinions. The son of a Connecticut blacksmith, Baldwin was the ‘poster boy’ who showed how academics opened opportunities in early American society. Although educated for a position in the church, Baldwin served in the Continental Army where close contact with men of widely varying economic and social backgrounds convinced him that public leadership included a duty to instill civic responsibility in American citizens. Did you get that? Public leadership has a duty to instill civic responsibility in all Americans.
Baldwin was also convinced that the future well-being of the older, more prosperous states like Connecticut was closely linked to developments in newer frontier states like Georgia. He believed that only a strong central government promoting the welfare of the citizens of all the states, big or little, could guarantee the promises of the Revolution.
The Baldwin family arrived in Connecticut in 1639 and produced many generations of industrious farmers, small-town tradesmen, and minor government officials. Baldwin's father, a resourceful man with an overriding faith in higher education, moved his family to New Haven so Abraham could attend Yale University. Baldwin graduated in 1772, but, intending to become a Congregationalist minister, he remained there studying theology. He soon received a license to preach full-time but decided he’d rather be a part-time tutor and a part-time pastor at Yale. For the next three years in this dual capacity, he became known both for his piety, his modesty and his skill as an educator.
Yale had produced most of Connecticut's clergy for nearly a century, and as the Revolution began, became the primary source of chaplains for its Continental Army contingent. Baldwin served as a chaplain on a part-time basis during the early stages of the war, and in 1779 became one of the two brigade chaplains for Connecticut's forces. Baldwin remained with General Samuel Parsons' brigade until the preliminary treaty of peace in June 1783.
In addition to caring for the spiritual needs of the 1,500 soldiers of differing denominations in the brigade, Baldwin assumed responsibility for maintaining the morale of the men and for guarding their physical welfare. He had certain educational duties and served as a political adviser to brigade and regimental commanders. Using his sermons and conversations with officers and men, he helped them understand the heart of the conflict with Great Britain and thereby increased their sense of mission and dedication to the Patriot cause.
Baldwin's unit played an important role in George Washington's defensive strategy. Near West Point they helped secure vital communications along the Hudson River and guarded that area against British invasions. With his center thus secured, Washington was free to launch successful offensive operations against smaller enemy forces in other parts of the country. Baldwin had little to do with purely military matters, but his service as a chaplain proved vital to our cause.
During his military years Baldwin, like most personable chaplains, became friends with the Army's senior officers, including Washington and General Nathanael Greene, who took command in the South in 1780. He was also a witness to General Benedict Arnold's betrayal of his country. These associations moved the somewhat cloistered New England teacher and theology student toward a broader political outlook and a strong moral commitment to the emerging nation. Baldwin is a member of the prestigious Society of the Cincinnati which represents 3,432 officers who led American and French soldiers and sailors in our Revolution.
In 1783 Baldwin returned to civilian life. He rejected opportunities to serve as a minister and to assume the prestigious post as Yale's Professor of Divinity. While in the Army he had studied law and had been admitted to the Connecticut bar. He soon left New England for the frontier regions of Georgia. After initially receiving a land grant in Wilkes County, Baldwin moved to present-day Columbia County where he established his legal practice, thanks to two men. Nathanael Greene had announced his intention to move to Georgia and was encouraging other veterans to join him in settling along the frontier. More importantly, Governor Lyman Hall, himself a Yale graduate, was interested in finding a man to assist in developing a comprehensive educational system for Georgia. Hall asked Yale's president to help him in the search, and Baldwin was persuaded to accept the responsibility.
Deciding that the state legislature was the best place to formulate plans for the education of Georgia's citizens, Baldwin ran for and won a seat in the lower house. In his first session he drew up the comprehensive plans for secondary and higher education in Georgia that were implemented over the following decades. His plans included selling land to fund Franklin College (today’s University of Georgia) which he patterned after Yale. Emerging as a Georgia legislative leader, Baldwin reflected not only an exceptional political astuteness, but also an ability to deal with a wide variety of men and situations. As the son of a blacksmith, Baldwin exhibited a natural affinity for the rough men of the Georgia frontier; as a graduate of Yale, one of our nation's finest schools, he also related easily to the wealthy and cultured planters of the coast. That enabled him to reconcile differences that arose among the various social and economic groups in the new state. As a result, he exercised a leadership role in the legislature by devising compromises necessary for the adoption of essential administrative and legal programs.
In early 1785 Georgia elected Baldwin to the Continental Congress, initiating a career in national government that would not end until his death. Although he had moved to Georgia to serve in the cause of education, he willingly assumed the burdens of national politics. In 1787 Georgia called on Baldwin to serve in the Constitutional Convention where he supported representation in the national legislature solely based on a system called ‘property qualification.’ Baldwin thought that system was the best way to bond the traditional leadership of the rich and educated with the new sources of political and economic power – the poor, uneducated frontiersman. ‘Property qualification’ prevents citizens without land of a certain value or an income of a certain amount from voting in elections or holding a government office.
In arguments over the fair representation of small states, Baldwin was convinced that small states would withdraw from the Convention if the Constitution did not guarantee the equality of state representation. Baldwin changed his stand and his vote, the last one cast, resulted in a tie and paved the way for additional analysis by a committee. Baldwin helped draw up the Great Compromise, whereby our national legislature established a Senate which gave an equal voice to all thirteen states but also established a balancing House of Representatives based on population. Baldwin’s greatest legacy was forcing the Constitutional Convention into the Great Compromise which created two chambers, a Senate and a House, called a bicameral legislature, for representation of the states in our federal system.
After the adoption of the Constitution, Baldwin continued to serve in the last days of the old Continental Congress and then went on to serve five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the U.S. Senate. His political instincts led him to support James Madison in all things. A man of principle who had learned much from his service in the Continental Army, Baldwin demonstrated throughout a lengthy public career the value of accommodation between competing political interests, the critical need of national unity, and the importance of education to a democratic society.
Through Baldwin’s efforts, the state approved a charter for the University of Georgia. Baldwin served as the first president of the institution during its initial planning phase, from 1786 to 1801, during which he also worked with the legislature on the college charter. Franklin College, now the University of Georgia, opened to students in 1801, and Josiah Meigs was hired to succeed Baldwin as its first actual president. The first buildings of the college were architecturally modeled on Yale’s where both Baldwin and Meigs had taught. Georgia also copied Yale and adopted the bulldog as its mascot, in tribute to Baldwin and Meigs. The University of Georgia erected a statue of Abraham Baldwin in his honor as its founding father.
Baldwin never married, but just like Alexander Stephens, another renowned Georgian, he took custody of six of his younger siblings upon his father’s death and reared, housed, and educated them at his own expense. In 1807, at age 52, Abraham Baldwin died while serving as a U.S. senator from Georgia and his remains were interred in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington.
Places and institutions named for Baldwin include Baldwin County in Alabama and in Georgia; Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton; Abraham Baldwin Middle School in Guilford, Connecticut; and Baldwin streets in Madison, Wisconsin and Athens. The United States Postal Service made a 7¢ Great Americans series postage stamp in his honor. He was a great and humble man, indeed a Founding Father for Georgia and our Nation.
Thank you,
Lewis Smith