Allen, Andrew, 1740-1825
Biographical notes:
Andrew Allen (June 1740 – March 7, 1825) was a lawyer and official from the Province of Pennsylvania. Born into an influential family, Allen initially favored the colonial cause in the American Revolution, and represented Pennsylvania in the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1776. Like many other wealthy elites in Pennsylvania, however, he resisted radical change, and became a Loyalist after the Declaration of Independence and the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776.
Born in Philadelphia, Allen graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1759, read law under Benjamin Chew, and then went to London to complete a legal education at the Inner Temple. He returned to Philadelphia in 1765, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice law. That same year Allen was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. When tensions increased before the American Revolution, Allen was one of those critical of the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774. He signed the non-importation agreement boycotting British goods in protest of the Boston Port Act, and helped form an independent militia unit, the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, on November 2, 1774. On June 30, 1775, he was appointed to the Committee of Safety by the Assembly.
In 1775 Allen was elected by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Allen hoped that Congress would seek reconciliation with the mother country, and was dismayed when Congress began moving towards independence in 1776. He resigned from the First City Troop in April of that year. On May 1, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in a special by-election. When the Continental Congress began considering a resolution of independence in June 1776, Allen withdrew from Congress, not attending any sessions after June 14. In 1778, he made his way to England and practiced law in London.
The Pennsylvania Assembly attainted Allen of treason in 1781 and confiscated his properties, along with those of others in his family. After the war, the British government reviewed his losses, and the "Commission for Claims and Losses" awarded him a lifetime pension of £400. In 1792, Allen was pardoned by Pennsylvania. He returned to Philadelphia in 1794 to attempt to recover some of the old payments due to him under the provisions of the Jay Treaty, but this was unsuccessful. Allen went to London and renewed allegiance and his property was confiscated.He remained there the remainder of his life; he died on March 7, 1825.
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Subjects:
Occupations:
- Lawyers
- State Government Official
- American loyalists
- Delegates, U.S. Continental Congress
Places:
- ENG, GB
- PA, US
- Pennsylvania (as recorded)
