John Alsop was born in 1724 at New Windsor in Orange County, New York, the son of John Alsop Sr. and Abigail Sackett Alsop. His father was a lawyer and landowner, and his mother belonged to another established New York family. The younger John grew up within the commercial and landed society of the Hudson Valley. Alsop received practical education in reading, writing, arithmetic, law, and business. Rather than pursuing a learned profession, he entered commerce and moved to New York City. There he became involved in importing, shipping, insurance, and trade with other colonies and the West Indies. Merchants depended upon credit, accurate correspondence, and trustworthy partnerships across long distances. He formed a successful partnership with his brother Richard and accumulated wealth and civic standing. Alsop married Mary Frogat, and their daughter Mary later married Rufus King. His household participated in the institution of slavery that remained embedded in colonial New York’s urban economy. Commercial interests drew Alsop into public affairs. He served in civic organizations and the colonial assembly and supported resistance to parliamentary taxation. Yet, like many merchants, he feared that uncontrolled violence and permanent separation from Britain could destroy trade and social order. Before representing New York in the Continental Congress, Alsop had been shaped by Hudson Valley family connections, commercial apprenticeship, migration to the city, Atlantic trade, marriage, property, and cautious civic service. His early life produced a moderate Patriot rather than an immediate advocate of independence. When Congress moved toward a final break in 1776, Alsop resigned rather than endorse a step he considered premature, demonstrating how deeply his political judgment remained tied to the commercial and constitutional world in which he had matured.