Joseph Jones (Virginia)
- For other persons named Joseph Jones, see Joseph Jones
- For other persons named Joey Jones, see Joey Jones
- For other persons named Joe Jones, see Joe Jones
Joseph Jones (1727 – October 28, 1805) was an American lawyer and statesman from King George County, Virginia. He was an Anti-Federalist.[1]
Biography
Jones was born in King George County, Virginia, part of the Northern Neck, in 1727.[2][1] Jones was born to James and Hester Jones.[1] His father ran a country store and tavern and later became a successful merchant with many contacts to England.[1] Jones was educated nearby but went to England to continue his education; he went to the Inner Temple in London in 1749 and the Middle Temple in 1751, becoming a barrister.[1]
Jones then returned to Virginia and achieved success as a lawyer in the growing town of Fredericksburg.[1] In 1754, Jones become King's attorney for Fredericksburg.[1] In 1758, he married Mary Taliaferro, the daughter of Colonel John Taliaferro of Spotsylvania County.[1]
In 1772, Jones became a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the colonial legislature.[2][1] Jones was a "cautious patriot" and served on the committee of safety in 1774-75.[2][1] In 1776, Jones was a supporter of the Revolution during Virginia's second state committee of safety.[1] Also in 1776, Jones was elected to the Fifth Virginia Convention, which produced the Virginia Declaration of Rights.[2][1]
Hones served as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1777 and 1778.[2][1] He was appointed to serve as judge of the Virginia General Court on January 23, 1778, and resigned in October 1779.[2][1] Jones then returned to the Continental Congress, serving as a Virginia delegate from 1780 to 1783.[1]
Jones was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson.[1] Jones served in the House of Burgesses in 1787, where he split with his longtime friend James Madison over the Constitution.[1] Jones wrote in an October 29, 1787 letter to Madison that he had "many objections" to the Constitution and wished to see a declaration of rights attached to it.[1]
Jones was a member of the 1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention, which ratified the Federal Constitution.[2][1] At the Convention, Jones was at first a supporter of the proposed constitution, but later turned against it, joining with Patrick Henry and others to draft amendments to the Constitution.[1] Jones was described as a "brilliant legal mind" and was part of the group that helped draft with Bill of Rights with George Mason.[1] Jones subsequently became "embittered over what he believed was Madison's betrayal of the rights of Virginians" and voted against ratification.[1]
Jones was then appointed once more as judge of the Virginia General Court, on November 19, 1789.[2][1] Jones served as a major general of the Virginia militia.[2]
During the presidency of George Washington, Jones was a supporter of the Jeffersonian faction.[1] He died at his home in Fredericksburg on October 28, 1805.[2][1]
Jones was the uncle of James Monroe.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 Jon L. Wakelyn, "Joseph Jones" in of the Bill of Rights: Encyclopedia of the Antifederalists, Vol. 1: Biographies (Greenwood, 2004), pp. 99-100.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Jones, Joseph, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
