Background
Allen Jones was born on December 24, 1739 in what is now Halifax County, North Carolina, the son of Robert (Robin) Jones, attorney-general of North Carolina under the Crown, and of Sarah (Cobb) Jones.
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Allen Jones was born on December 24, 1739 in what is now Halifax County, North Carolina, the son of Robert (Robin) Jones, attorney-general of North Carolina under the Crown, and of Sarah (Cobb) Jones.
With his brother, Willie Jones, Allen Jones is said to have been educated at Eton College, England.
Before the Revolution Allen Jones attained local prominence as clerk of the superior court for Halifax district, and as member of the House of Commons from 1773 to 1775 for Northampton County. In 1771 he assisted Governor William Tryon in the suppression of the Regulators. His chief distinction was gained in the Revolution by able, devoted, and continuous labor in camp and council for the patriot cause. He was a member of the Committee of Safety for Halifax district in 1775 and represented Northampton County in the five Provincial Congresses from 1774 to 1776.
He served on many important committees, especially those to provide military defense, to establish temporary forms of civil government, to empower the North Carolina delegates in Congress to concur with those of other colonies in declaring independence (April 12, 1776), and to frame the state constitution of 1776.
He was appointed brigadier-general of militia for Halifax district in 1776 and, until the end of the war, alternated between civil office and active military service in the two Carolinas.
From 1777 to 1779 he was in the state Senate, of which he was speaker in 1778 and 1779, was a member of the Continental Congress from 1779 to 1780, in 1781 was on the Council Extraordinary that was charged with the conduct of the war, and was on the Council of State in 1782. On the grounds that there was no state law authorizing it and that the requisition of Congress was not binding, he protested, in 1778, against the sending of North Carolina militia to aid South Carolina.
In 1783, 1784, and 1787 he was a prominent member of the state Senate. In 1790 he was the owner of 177 slaves, the fourth largest slaveholding in the state.
He died at his seat, "Mount Gallant, " in Northampton County, his plantation in Northampton County.
Jones favored a strong federal government and was a leader of the pro-ratification Delegates. Unlike his more famous brother, Willie, who was the anti-Federalist leader, he was a strong advocate of the federal Constitution but was defeated for a seat in the Hillsborough convention of 1788 and for the second federal convention, whose convocation was expected.
A large property owner himself, he was zealous for the rights of property, became an opponent of the proscriptive policy toward the Loyalists after the war, and a conservative in politics.
Quotations: Yet his faith in the success of the patriot cause was as constant as his labors in its behalf; in 1777 he wrote: "No reverse of fortune can possibly damp my spirits or occasion any despondency, so thoroughly am I convinced that time and America must overcome all opposition".
On January 21, 1762, Allen Jones married Mary Haynes and, after her death, he married Rebecca Edwards on September 3, 1768.