John Young Brown (politician)

John Young Brown

John Young Brown (born June 28, 1835 in Claysville , Hardin County , Kentucky , † January 11, 1904 in Henderson , Kentucky) was an American lawyer and politician . From 1891 to 1895 he was governor of the state of Kentucky.

Early years and political advancement

John Brown was the nephew of Congressmen Bryan Rust Young (1800–1882) and William Singleton Young (1790–1827). He attended Center College in Danville until 1855 . He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Eventually he settled in Elizabethtown as a lawyer. In 1859 he was elected to the US House of Representatives, but initially could not take up his mandate because he had not yet reached the minimum age. He was only admitted to the Congress after he had reached this age limit . After the outbreak of the civil war , he decided to go to the south, on whose side he took part in the war as a soldier. After the war, he moved to Henderson and was re-elected to Congress. This time he was denied his seat because of his disloyalty during the war. In the next election he was then allowed again and from 1873 to 1877 he was again represented in the House of Representatives. There he was reprimanded for abusive remarks and unworthy behavior. After the end of his time in Congress, he took a political break, during which he worked as a lawyer again.

Kentucky governor

In 1891 Brown was nominated by the Democratic Party as a candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial election. He won the election with 49.9% of the vote against Republican Andrew T. Wood (40.1%) and two other candidates from smaller parties. His term of office began on September 2, 1891 and ended on December 10, 1895. During this time, he carried out a tax reform. The issue of lending convicts to work as laborers was hotly debated in those years and violence rose again in Kentucky. There were 56 lynchings between 1892 and 1895. Towards the end of his tenure, Kentucky entered a period of domestic political instability. A main reason was the fragmentation of the Democratic Party into different factions. The governor played his part in this and sharply attacked some of his members of the government, including the justice minister. The crisis weakened the party. As a result, the Republicans succeeded in 1895 with William O'Connell Bradley for the first time to gain a victory in gubernatorial elections in Kentucky. Domestic political instability continued and escalated in 1900 into a dispute over electoral fraud and a fatal assassination attempt on the new Governor William Goebel .

End of life and death

After his tenure ended, Brown returned to law. An attempt to be elected to Congress in 1896 failed, as did his attempt to obtain the Democratic nomination for gubernatorial election in 1899. After the assassination of Governor Goebel, he represented Caleb Powers , one of the alleged conspirators, in court, who was pardoned in 1909 by Governor Augustus E. Willson . John Brown died on January 11, 1904, he was married twice and had a total of two children.

Web links

• John Young Brown (politician) in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Brown at the National Governors Association (English)
• John Young Brown in the database of Find a Grave (English)