John M. Allen Speech

Collection

Identifier: MPC-152

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Offprint of speech concerning tariff reform given to the United States House of Representatives by Allen in 1888.

Dates

1888

Creator

Allen, John M. (Creator, Person)

Access Restrictions

Open to all researchers.

Use Restrictions

Any requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce materials from this collection must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian for Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Mississippi State University as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical Note

John Mills Allen was born in 1846 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. He served as a private in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He attended Cumberland School of Law in Lebanon, TN, but ultimtately received his degree from the University of Mississippi in 1870.

After several years as a county prosecutor and district attorney, he was elected to the first of his eight terms in Congress in 1885. His stump speech emphasized his service as a private throughout the Civil War, and was the source of his nickname: "Private" John Allen. It also marked the start of his reputation as a story-teller.

He served as Chairman of the Committee of Expenditures in the Justice Department (1891-1893), and of the Committee for Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River (1893-1895).

He left Congress in 1900, and in 1901 was named U.S. Commissioner to the St. Louis Exposition of 1904. He later returned to Tupelo, where he resumed private practice as a lawyer and was active in civin life until his death in 1917.

Source: "'Private' Allen Dies at Tupelo". The Chattanooga News. Jackson, Mississippi. October 30, 1917. p. 10. Retrieved September 28, 2021 – via Newspapers.com; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/A000134)