Thomas Person was an American politician and Anti-Federalist leader.
Background
He was born on January 19, 1733 probably in Brunswick County, Virginia, United States, but lived from infancy in Granville (now Vance) County, North Carolina. His father was William Person, of Virginia, who went to North Carolina about 1740. The maiden name of his mother, Ann Person, is not known.
Education
There is no information about his education.
Career
Thomas became a surveyor for Lord Granville and in the course of years acquired a landed estate of more than 82, 000 acres lying in Granville, Halifax, Warren, Franklin, Orange, Caswell, Guilford, Rockingham, Anson, and Wake counties in North Carolina, and in Davidson, Sumner, and Green counties in Tennessee. He became a justice of the peace in 1756, sheriff in 1762, and was representative in the Assembly in 1764 and frequently thereafter.
In the Regulation movement he was involved somewhat deeply as counselor and adviser. He was tried at the session of 1770 for perjury and for exacting illegal fees but he was triumphantly cleared. He was not present at the battle of Alamance when the Regulation was suppressed, but he was regarded as so important a leader that he was included in Governor Tryon's list of those excepted from the amnesty which was proclaimed. He was arrested and jailed but was released without trial, and his influence in the Assembly and in the colony grew steadily.
When the Revolutionary movement began Person threw himself into it with intense fervor. In the two congresses of 1776 he ranked with Willie Jones as a leader of the liberal party. In 1775 he was elected a member of the provincial council and in 1776 of the Council of Safety. In 1776 he was elected also a general of militia, but there is no record that he saw active service. He was again made a justice of the peace in 1776, and a member of the council of state, and in 1784 was elected to the Continental Congress but never took his seat. He was a member of the House of Commons from 1777 to 1786, 1788 to 1791, 1793 to 1795, and in 1797 - seventeen years in all - and a member of the Senate in 1787 and 1791. In 1787 he became chief commissioner to settle the accounts of the state with the United States.
In 1788 Person was one of the most influential of those who opposed immediate ratification of the federal Constitution, and as a delegate to the Hillsboro convention voted against it. He was also a delegate to the Fayetteville convention of 1789 where he again opposed ratification. The legislature of 1789 named him one of the charter trustees of the state university and he held the place until 1795 and was one of the institution's earliest and most generous benefactors.
He died in 1800 in Franklin County.
Achievements
Politics
Ardently democratic, he believed the struggle to be primarily one for popular government. After the war ended, Thomas Person became a leader of North Carolina's Anti-Federalists, who opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution.
Personality
He had a passion for justice, equality and honesty.
Connections
Person in 1760 married Johanna Thomas of Granville County who died without issue.