He never had much success as a doctor, and in 1832, he renounced medicine and headed for New Orleans, where he entered the mercantile trade.

Though he safely weathered two plagues, his business efforts never met with any success, and within a year he had no money.

36 arrived during the final days of the revolution, and Jones carried it in his saddlebags during the decisive Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

Collinsworth was instrumental in starting the Texas Railroad, Navigation, and Banking Company, to which Jones was vehemently opposed.

He also helped draw up legislation to regulate medical practice, and called for the establishment of an endowment for a university.

The United States, in the late 1830s, was hesitant to annex Texas for fear of provoking a war with Mexico.

Back at home, he found himself elected to a partial term in the Senate, where he quickly became a critic of Lamar's administration.

He retired from the Senate in 1841, declining the opportunity to serve as Vice President in favor of returning to his medical practice.

Although Jones prospered as a planter and eventually amassed an enormous estate, he was never able to get past the fact that Sam Houston and Thomas Jefferson Rusk were chosen over him to represent Texas in Washington, DC.

After the suicide of Thomas Jefferson Rusk in 1857, Jones became convinced that the legislature would finally send him to the Senate, but he received no votes.

For four days, he had lodged at Houston's old Capitol Hotel, the former seat of government of the Republic of Texas.

His arm permanently injured in a fall, and having received no votes for a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate, he brooded over his career.