James BROWN, Congress, LA (1766-1835)

BROWN, James, (brother of John Brown of Virginia and Kentucky (1757-1837), cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge, and Francis Preston, uncle of James Brown Clay), a Senator from Louisiana; born near Staunton, Va., September 11, 1766; attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va., and William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Frankfort, Ky.; commanded a company of sharpshooters in an expedition against the Indians in 1789; secretary to the Governor 1792; soon after the cession of the Territory of Louisiana moved to New Orleans and was appointed as secretary of the Territory in 1804; subsequently became United States district attorney for the Territory; elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate on December 1, 1812, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John N. Destrehan, and served from February 5, 1813, to March 3, 1817; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; again elected to the United States Senate in 1819, as an Adams-Clay Republican, and served from March 4, 1819, until December 10, 1823, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Sixteenth Congress); appointed United States Minister to France 1823-1829; returned to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, Pa., where he died on April 7, 1835; interment in Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pa.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Padgett, James A., ed. ”Letters of James Brown to Henry Clay, 1804-1835.” Louisiana Historical Quarterly 24 (1941): 921-1177.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present