Dec. 16, 1769. Jesse Mercer, hymnist and preacher, was born in Halifax County, NC. Mercer University in Georgia was named after him. As a delegate to Georgia’s constitutional convention in 1798, he helped to defeat a proposal that would have made ministers ineligible to hold public office in Georgia. The convention’s delegates also gave Mercer the responsibility for writing the section of Georgia’s constitution guaranteeing religious liberty to the state’s citizens. Mercer made a run for the state senate in 1816 but was unsuccessful. From 1817 to 1835 Mercer also served four times as a delegate to the Triennial Convention which supported foreign missions. ABHS has many volumes by and about Jesse Mercer and Mercer University. ABHS’s offices and archives are on the Mercer University Atlanta campus.
