James Brown (Senator)

James Brown

James Brown (born September 11, 1766 in Staunton , Colony of Virginia , †  April 7, 1835 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American politician ( Democratic Republican Party ) who represented the state of Louisiana in the US Senate .

family

James Brown comes from a family that produced numerous politicians. His brother John was a member of the Continental Congress and from 1792 to 1805 also a US Senator for Kentucky . His cousin John Breckinridge also served as the Senator for Kentucky; with James Breckinridge and Francis Preston , two other cousins ​​belonged to the US House of Representatives as representatives of Virginia . He was also the brother-in-law of US Secretary of State Henry Clay , the uncle of Congressman James Brown Clay, and the great-uncle of US Senator B. Gratz Brown .

Career

Brown first attended Washington College in Lexington , later Washington and Lee University , and the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg . He studied law , was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Frankfort . During an expedition to Indian territory, he commanded a sniper company in 1789.

After he was first Secretary of the Governor of Virginia in early 1792 , he took over the office of Secretary of State of Kentucky in June of that year , which he held until October 13, 1796. Brown then moved to New Orleans , where he became Territory Secretary of Louisiana on October 1, 1804 . He only exercised this until December 11 of the same year when he was appointed District Attorney for the territory .

He also became wealthy as a planter and was one of the richest slave owners on the German Coast . In January 1811, some of the slaves employed on Brown's sugar plantation took part in the German Coast Revolt, the largest slave revolt in American history. 95 slaves lost their lives.

politics

On February 5, 1813, James Brown moved into the US Senate, after he had won the by-election for the mandate of the resigned Jean Noel Destréhan against his acting successor Thomas Posey in December 1812 . Brown then initially unsuccessfully applied for re-election for a full term of office and thus had to resign from Congress on March 3, 1817 , but then won his state's second Senate mandate in 1819. This he resigned after four and a half years in office on December 10, 1823, because he had been appointed Ambassador of the United States to France. He held this post until 1829. Since 1827 he was a member of the American Philosophical Society .

After returning to the USA, James Brown retired in Philadelphia, where he also died on April 7, 1835.

Web links

• James Brown in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James Brown in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State: James Brown
2. ^ Member History: James Brown. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 21, 2018 .