He led the faction that opposed North Carolina's ratification of the Constitution in 1788 because he feared that the national government would be too powerful.

Sometime prior to 1753, the Joneses moved to Northampton County, North Carolina, settling about six miles from the town of Halifax.

At the age of 12, Jones sailed to England to attend his father's alma mater, Eton, where he studied from 1753 to 1758.

He interpreted the struggle with Great Britain as a democratic movement and was determined to embody its revolutionary ideals in the government of the state and nation.

[citation needed] From the beginning of the quarrel with England, Jones was an ardent supporter of colonial rights; his enthusiasm drew him into politics.

This body remained in session for only three days, but during that time it fully launched North Carolina into the revolutionary movement.

After a fifth provincial congress, with a liberal majority behind him, Jones served on the committee to draft the state constitution and bill of rights.

He said, 'all the delegates knew how they were going to vote,' and he did not want to be guilty of 'lavishing public money' on a long and tedious discussion in support of the Constitution and its ratification, in advance of amendment.

Their three daughters were:[6] Jones's home, the Grove, which he built at the southern end of the town of Halifax, became a center of social life and political activity for the region.

[5] In his will, he asked that he be buried beside one of his small daughters, and further mandated that "No priest or other person is to insult my corpse by uttering any impious observations over my body.

My family and my friends are not to mourn my death, even with a black rag — on the contrary, I give my wife and three daughters, Anna Maria, Sally and Patsy, each a Quaker-colored silk, to make their habits [hoods, bonnets] on the occasion."