The parents of John Dickinson of Delaware, who would grow up to write the Farmer's Letters, hired Alison to tutor their children.
His teaching grew from there by adding pupils and he ran an academy at Thunder Hill, near the village of New London, Pennsylvania.
Alison was against the practices of the Great Awakening going so far as to help his presbytery pen a pamphlet entitled the Querists.
Alison was part of the cause of the division in that he came to Synod seeking a judgment against Alexander Craighead, a New Side adherent.
As a result of the Protest, Gilbert Tennent and his New Side friends left the Synod and formed their own.
Upon the reunion of the two sides in 1758, which created the new Synod of New York and Philadelphia, Alison preached the opening sermon entitled "Peace and Union" from Ephesians 4:4-7.
In the ensuing years, Alison always took the Old Side interpretation of theology; however, he remained a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Three of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence studied under Alison: Governor Thomas McKean, George Read, and James Smith.