Richard Bassett - Signer of the Constitution

Quotes

Tibits

National Park Service

Bassett was a well-to-do planter and lawyer who also enjoyed careers as soldier, judge, legislator, and Governor. At the Constitutional Convention, he played a silent role and confined himself to casting votes on the issues as they arose.

Twice married, to Ann Ennals and a woman named Bruff, Bassett fathered several children. He was a devout Methodist, held religious meetings at Bohemia Manor, and financially supported the church.

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

BASSETT, Richard, (grandfather of Richard Henry Bayard and James Asheton Bayard, Jr.), a Senator from Delaware; born in Cecil County, Md., April 2, 1745; pursued preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced in Delaware; captain of a Delaware troop during the Revolutionary War; member of the State constitutional conventions in 1776 and 1792; member, State senate 1782; member, State house of representatives 1786; delegate to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States in 1787; member of the Delaware convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in 1787; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793; chief justice of the court of common pleas 1793-1799; Governor of Delaware 1799-1801; appointed United States circuit judge by President John Adams in 1801; died on his estate, ‘Bohemia Manor,’ in Cecil County, Md., August 15, 1815; interment Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Del.

Abraham Baldwin - Signer of the Constitution

Quotes

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

When the minds of the people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled and their conduct disorderly a free government will be attended with greater confusions and evils more horrid than the wild uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy where the public principles and opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the reach of laws and punishments and can be claimed only by religion and education. It should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of religion and morality and early to place the youth under the forming hand of society that by instruction they may be molded to the love of virtue and good order.

Tibits

After attending a local village school, Abraham studied at Yale, in nearby New Haven. He graduated in 1772. Three years later, he became a minister and tutor at the college. He held that position until 1779, when he served as a chaplain in the Continental Army. Two years later, he declined an offer from his alma mater of a professorship of divinity. Instead of resuming his ministerial or educational duties after the war, he turned to the study of law and in 1783 gained admittance to the bar at Fairfield, CT.

Bio

Congressional Biographical Directory

BALDWIN, Abraham, (half-brother of Henry Baldwin of Pennsylvania), a Delegate, a Representative, and a Senator from Georgia; born in North Guilford, Conn., November 22, 1754; moved with his father to New Haven, Conn., in 1769; attended private schools; graduated from Yale College in 1772; subsequently studied theology at the college and was licensed to preach in 1775; served as a tutor in that institution 1775-1779, when he resigned to enter the Army; chaplain in the Second Connecticut Brigade, Revolutionary Army, from 1777 until 1783, when the troops disbanded; studied law during his service in the Army; admitted to the bar in 1783 and practiced at Fairfield; moved to Augusta, Ga., in 1784 and continued the practice of law; member of the State house of representatives 1785; originator of the plan for, and author of, the charter of the University of Georgia and served as president 1786-1801; member of the Continental Congress 1785, 1787, and 1788; member of the United States Constitutional Convention 1787; elected to the First and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1789-March 3, 1799); elected to the United States Senate in 1799; reelected in 1805 and served from March 4, 1799, until his death on March 4, 1807; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Seventh Congress; died in Washington, D.C.; interment in Rock Creek Cemetery.