James Brown (Louisiana)

James Brown ( * September 11, 1766 in Staunton, Virginia, † April 7, 1835 in Philadelphia ) was a U.S. Representative ( Democratic- Republican), who represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate.

Family

James Brown comes from a family that produced many politicians. So his brother John was a member of the Continental Congress and from 1792 to 1805 also U.S. Senator for Kentucky. His cousin John Breckinridge served as a Senator for Kentucky; James Breckinridge and Francis Preston were two other cousins ​​of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Virginia. He was also the brother of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Clay, the uncle of Congressman James Brown Clay and the great-uncle of U.S. Senator B. Gratz Brown.

Career

Brown first attended the Washington College in Lexington, later Washington and Lee University, and the William and Mary College in Williamsburg. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and began to practice as a lawyer in Frankfort. In an expedition to Indian Territory in 1789 he commanded a company of sharpshooters.

After he had worked in 1792 as secretary to the Governor of Virginia, Brown moved a little later to New Orleans, where he took over the office of the Territorial Secretary of Louisiana on October 1, 1804. This, however, he held only until 11 December of the same year, when he was appointed district attorney of the territory.

He also came as a planter to prosperity and was one of the wealthiest slave owners on the German Coast. In January 1811 some of the employed on Brown's sugar plantation slaves involved in the German Coast revolt, the largest slave revolt in American history. 95 slaves lost their lives.

Policy

On February 5, 1813 James Brown moved into the U.S. Senate, after he had won in December 1812 by-election to the mandate of the retiring Jean N. Destréhan against his provisional successor, Thomas Posey. Brown applied after initially unsuccessful even to the re-election for a full term of office and thus was eliminated on March 3, 1817, first from the Congress, but then won in 1819 the second Senate mandate his state. 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 in France. A post he held until in 1829.

After his return to the United States, James Brown sat down to rest in Philadelphia, where he also died in 1835.