Robert Baird was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 clergyman and author. He was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the2010 census, the population was 136,606. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, near Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, and graduated at Jefferson College

Washington & Jefferson College

Washington & Jefferson College, also known as W & J College or W&J, is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States, which is south of Pittsburgh...

 in 1818 and at Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

 in 1822. He taught at an academy at Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

 for five years while tutoring at the College of New Jersey and preaching occasionally. (In 1824, he helped to create the Chi Phi

Chi Phi

The Chi Phi ' Fraternity is an American College Social Fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The oldest active organization that took part in the union was originally founded in 1824 at Princeton...

 Society, a semi-religious, semi-literary organization, which ceased activity the following year when it merged with the Philadelphian Society.) In 1827 Baird became a New Jersey agent for the American Bible Society

American Bible Society

The American Bible Society is an interconfessional, non-denominational, nonprofit organization, founded in 1816 in New York City, which publishes, distributes and translates the Bible and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with the Bible.It is probably best known for its...

, distributing Bibles among the poor and laboring among destitute Presbyterian churches. His survey of educational deficiencies eventually led to the introduction of a system of public education in New Jersey.

In 1829 Baird became an agent for the American Sunday School Union and traveled extensively for the society. In 1835 he went to Europe, where he remained eight years, devoting himself to the promotion of Protestant Christianity in southern Europe and subsequently to the advocacy of temperance

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

 reform in northern Europe. On the formation of the Foreign Evangelical Society, since merged in the American and Foreign Christian Union, he became its agent and corresponding secretary.

In 1842 while in Geneva, Baird wrote his Religion in America, first published in Glasgow. Baird revised and expanded this work through several printings in the United States with the edition of 1856 being the most complete. Subsequently the history was translated into French, German, Dutch, and Swedish. In this work of almost seven hundred pages, Baird argued that revivalism was a positive feature of American religious experience.

In 1846 Baird visited Europe to attend the world's temperance convention in Stockholm and the meeting of the evangelical alliance in London, and on his return he delivered a series of lectures on the "Continent of Europe." In 1862 he vindicated in London before large audiences the cause of the union against secession with vigorous eloquence. Among his other published works are a "View of the Valley of the Mississippi" (1832); "History of the Temperance Societies" (1836); "Visit to Northern Europe" (1841)" "Protestantism in Italy" (Boston, 1845); " Impressions and Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849" (Philadelphia, 1850), revised, with a supplement, in 1855; "History of the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Vandois."

His works include:

• A History of Temperance Societies in the United States (1836)
• Religion in America (1842)
• Protestantism in Italy (1845)
• History of the Albigenses
  Cathar
  Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
  
  , Waldenses
  Waldensians
  Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions, primarily in North-Western Italy. There is considerable uncertainty about the earlier history of the Waldenses because of a lack of extant source...
  
  , and Vaudois
  Vaud
  Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...