Andrew Allen (Pennsylvania)

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 in 1775 and 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.

Allen was born into a prominent Philadelphia family. His father, William Allen, was a successful merchant and lawyer, and would later be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Andrew graduated from the City College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania) 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. In 1766, he was appointed the colony's Attorney General. He married Sarah ("Sally") Coxe, sister of Tench Coxe, in April 1768. In 1770 his brother-in-law, Governor John Penn, gave him a seat on the Governor's Council.