Adolf Ivar Arwidsson was born in 1791 in Padasjoki in southern Finland. His father, a chaplain, later moved the family to Laukaa in mid-Finland. Laukaa was severely affected by the Finnish war of 1808–1809, and Arwidsson was left facing life under the Russian Empire, to which Finland now an belonged as an autonomous Grand Duchy. In 1809, while still at high school in Porvoo, Arwidsson was a representative at the Diet of Porvoo, at which the Finnish estates swore oaths of allegiance to the Tsars. Enabling support from the Swedish speaking upper strata of the Finnish society for a separate Finnish identity was expressed by the University docent A. I. Arwidsson (1791–1858) in a phrase that, somewhat modified, became an often quoted Fennoman credo: "Swedes we are no longer, Russians we do not want to become, let us therefore be Finns." (Swedish form: "Svenskar äro vi icke längre, ryssar vilja vi icke bli, låt oss alltså vara finnar" Finnish form: "Ruotsalaisia emme enää ole, venäläisiksi emme tahdo tulla, olkaamme siis suomalaisia.")