U.S. Senator from Louisiana and Minister to France (1766?1835)
James Brown
|
---|
|
|
|
In office
April 13, 1824 ? June 28, 1829
|
Appointed by
| James Monroe
|
---|
Preceded by
| Albert Gallatin
|
---|
Succeeded by
| William Cabell Rives
|
---|
|
In office
February 5, 1813 ? March 3, 1817
|
Preceded by
| Thomas Posey
|
---|
Succeeded by
| William C. C. Claiborne
|
---|
In office
March 4, 1819 ? December 10, 1823
|
Preceded by
| Eligius Fromentin
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Josiah S. Johnston
|
---|
|
In office
June 5, 1792 ? October 13, 1796
|
Governor
| Isaac Shelby
|
---|
Preceded by
| New office
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Harry Toulmin
|
---|
|
|
Born
| (
1766-09-11
)
September 11, 1766
Staunton, Virginia
, US
|
---|
Died
| April 7, 1835
(1835-04-07)
(aged 68)
Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania, US
|
---|
Political party
| Democratic-Republican
|
---|
Spouse
| Ann "Nancy" Hart
|
---|
Alma mater
| Washington and Lee University
College of William and Mary
|
---|
|
James Brown
(September 11, 1766 – April 7, 1835) was a Virginia-born American lawyer, planter and politician who served as a Secretary of State for the new state of
Kentucky
, and later as
U.S. Senator
from
Louisiana
, and
Minister to France
(1823?1829) before his retirement and death in Philadelphia.
Early and family life
[
edit
]
Born near
Staunton, Virginia
, to John Brown and his wife, young James Brown had brothers
John
and Samuel Brown and sisters Mary and Elizabeth who either survived him or had children who survived him, unlike his brother Preston. His brother
John Brown
became the U.S. Senator from Kentucky and active in its gaining statehood. Well-connected among the southern elite, they were also cousins of
John Breckinridge
,
James Breckinridge
and
Francis Preston
.
James Brown attended Washington College (later
Washington and Lee University
) in
Lexington, Virginia
, and the
College of William & Mary
in
Williamsburg
. James Brown
read law
, was admitted to the Virginia bar, and commenced
practice
in
Frankfort, Kentucky
, then still part of Virginia.
He married Ann "Nancy" Hart, one of seven children of Revolutionary War veteran and successful businessman Col. Thomas Hart, who moved from North Carolina to Maryland and finally
Lexington, Kentucky
. Her sister Lucretia married
Henry Clay
, who became U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Her brother
Nathaniel G. S. Hart
died in the War of 1812. They did not have any children who survived them. James Brown was the uncle of
James Brown Clay
,
Henry Clay, Jr.
,
John Morrison Clay
, the great uncle of
B. Gratz Brown
, and the cousin-in-law of
Thomas Hart Benton
.
Career
[
edit
]
James Brown commanded a company of Virginia sharpshooters in an expedition against the
Indians
in 1789. He served as secretary to
Isaac Shelby
, the first
governor of Kentucky
, in 1792. On June 5, 1792, Shelby nominated Brown as
Secretary of State
; he was confirmed by the
state senate
and served until October 13, 1796.
[1]
Soon after the United States made the
Louisiana Purchase
, Brown moved to
New Orleans
, where he was appointed in 1804 as secretary of the
Territory of Orleans
. He served from October 1 to December 11 of that year, when he was appointed as U.S.
Attorney-General for the Territory
.
[2]
Brown became one of the wealthiest planters and
slave owners
on the
German Coast
. His extensive
plantation
produced sugar through the use of slave labor.
In January 1811, some slaves from James Brown's plantations (some of them jointly owned by his nephew James Humphreys) joined in the
1811 German Coast uprising
. One was the African-born warrior Kook, who became one of the insurrection's leaders. It was the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history, but was soon suppressed. The insurgents killed only two white men, but between the one battle, subsequent
summary executions
by militia members, and executions after tribunals of slaveowners, ninety-five black men died. Some of the men were from
Saint-Domingue
, brought to
Spanish Louisiana
several years earlier by white
French
refugees, as well as by refugee
gens de couleur
(free people of colour), who fled the violence and expropriations of the
Haitian Revolution
. Others were slaves imported directly from Africa.
Brown was elected as a Democratic Republican to the
United States Senate
on December 1, 1812, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Jean Noel Destrehan
, whose slaves were also involved in the quashed uprising. Brown served in the U.S. Senate from February 5, 1813, until March 3, 1817. The Louisiana legislature refused to reelect him, but in 1819 he was elected again to the U.S. Senate as a Democratic-Republican aligned with Southern Jeffersonians. During the Missouri Crisis, he favored the unrestricted expansion of slavery west of the Mississippi River. He served from March 4, 1819, until December 10, 1823, when he resigned. During his tenure, Brown was the chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Sixteenth Congress).
With the consent of the Senate, the President appointed Brown U.S. Minister to
France
, and he served 1823?1829. Returning to the U.S., he settled in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. He agreed to support a
Quaker
appeal for funds to aid an American free black settlement in
Ontario
, Canada, known as the
Wilberforce Colony
. It had been started by free blacks from
Cincinnati, Ohio
, who emigrated to Canada in reaction to discriminatory laws and especially a highly destructive riot against them in 1829.
Brown was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society
[3]
in 1814 and the
American Philosophical Society
[4]
in 1827.
Death and legacy
[
edit
]
Brown survived his wife Nancy, as well as a Philadelphia cholera outbreak in 1831, but died in Philadelphia in 1835. After a service at its
St. Stephen's Church
,
[5]
he was buried in the vault of nearby
Christ Church, Philadelphia
.
Brown is remembered as one of the drafters of the first
Louisiana Civil Code
of 1808, a work undertaken together with
Louis Moreau-Lislet
and
Edward Livingston
.
Citations
[
edit
]
This article incorporates
public domain material
from the
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Envoys
to France
(1776?1779)
| | |
---|
Ministers Plenipotentiary
to France
(1778?1815)
| |
---|
Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary
to France
(1816?1893)
| |
---|
Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary
to France
(1893?present)
| |
---|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|