William Jones (statesman)
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William Jones (1760September 6, 1831) was an American politician.


Early career

Jones was born in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
in the
Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...
. Apprenticed in a shipyard, during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, he saw combat in the battles of Trenton and
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and later served at sea. In the decades that followed the war, he was a successful merchant in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
, and in Philadelphia. He was elected as a Republican to the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
in 1800 and was offered the office of
Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
in 1801, but declined and remained in Congress to the end of his term in 1803. In 1805, he was elected as a member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
.


Secretary of the Navy

With the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
raging, Jones became Secretary of the Navy in January 1813. His policies contributed greatly to American success on the
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and to a strategy of coastal defense and commerce raiding on the high seas. In late 1814, near the end of his term, he made recommendations on the reorganization of the Navy Department. These led to the establishment of the
Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. A county usually has three to five ...
system which operated from 1815 until 1842.


Bank president

From May 1813 to February 1814, Jones also served as acting
Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
and in 1816 was appointed President of the
Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...
. He returned to commercial pursuits in 1819. Jones died in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...
.


Legacy

The destroyer USS ''William Jones'' (DD-308) was named in his honor.


References

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Further reading

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, William 1760 births 1831 deaths Politicians from Philadelphia Merchants from colonial Pennsylvania 18th-century American merchants People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution United States secretaries of the navy American people of the War of 1812 Madison administration cabinet members Continental Army soldiers Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Burials at St. Peter's churchyard, Philadelphia Acting United States secretaries of the treasury 19th-century American merchants 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives Members of the American Philosophical Society