About This Stamp
A 7-cent stamp in the Great Americans series featuring Abraham Baldwin was issued on January 25, 1985, in conjunction with Founders Week celebrations at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Abraham Baldwin (1754–1807) was considered by many to be the father of the American state university system. He wrote the charter for Franklin College, the oldest college at the University of Georgia, in 1785.
That charter was the first document of its kind to establish a state university in the United States. Baldwin based the document on the theory that a popular government can succeed only when its citizens are educated. He said that America's youth were "the rising hope of our land." He served as president of the college from 1786 until 1801.
Baldwin was a Yale graduate who served in the Revolution as a chaplain. After moving to Georgia, he became a state legislator in 1785, and he represented Georgia at the Constitutional Convention, where he was credited with resolving a critical impasse. When a conflict over state representation threatened to dissolve the convention, Baldwin engineered a tie vote on a crucial issue, which led to an adjournment and an opportunity for the delegates to develop a compromise. The maneuver succeeded and the Constitution completed. Baldwin was among the signers of that document. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1789 until 1799 and in the Senate from 1799 until 1807.
Richard Sparks of Norwalk, Connecticut, designed the stamp. It was printed in the intaglio process and issued in panes of 100. The modeler was Bradbury Thompson; art director was Howard Paine, and engravers were Dennis Brown (lettering and numerals) and Kenneth Kipperman (vignette).