Difference between revisions of "John Brown"

Revision as of 15:11, 18 April 2014

John Brown, 1757-1837, Kentucky statesman, was born in Staunton, Virginia.^[1] He was brother to James Brown, United States Senator for Louisiana, and related to the Clay and Breckinridge families.^[2] Brown’s father, a distinguished Presbyterian minister, provided his early education.^[3] John attended Princeton College, but his education was interrupted when the school closed due to the hostilities of the American Revolution.^[4] He joined Washington’s forces and later served under Lafayette.^[5] After his service, Brown resumed his education at William & Mary.^[6]

In the winter of 1780, Brown attended George Wythe’s law lectures at William & Mary, despite financial difficulties that led him to drop other courses. ^[7] While at the school, Brown participated in Wythe’s newly created moot court and moot legislature, finding that “[t]hese exercises serve not only as the best amusements after severer studies, but are very useful & attended with many important advantages.” ^[8] At William & Mary, he was also a member of the parent chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.^[9]

After completing his education, Brown settled in Kentucky in 1782 and became one of the state’s preeminent leaders and a leading statehood proponent.^[10] At times, Brown’s support of Kentucky exceeded his loyalty to the United States.^[11] In 1787, he had discussions with Spain in which the Spanish minister agreed to provide Kentucky free navigation of the Mississippi if Kentucky became independent of the United States.^[12] Nevertheless, in 1787, Brown represented Kentucky in the Virginia legislature and the following year was elected a delegate to the Kentucky constitutional convention.^[13] He was also elected a delegate to the Virginia convention where his Jeffersonian leanings led him to vote against ratifying the Federal Constitution.^[14] In 1792, when Kentucky entered the Union, Brown became a United States Senator for the new state, a position he held until 1805.^[15] Although Brown was on close terms with each of the first five presidents, he remained, throughout his life, an ardent supporter of Thomas Jefferson.^[16] He died in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1837.^[17]

References

1. Jump up ↑ Ellis Merton Coulter, "John Brown" in vol. II, part 1 of Dictionary of American Biography ed. Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958),130.
2. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
3. Jump up ↑ Lyon G. Tyler, “Glimpses of Old College Life,” William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine 9, no. 1 (July 1900), 19.
4. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
5. Jump up ↑ Ellis Merton Coulter, “John Brown,” 131.
6. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
7. Jump up ↑ ”Glimpses of Old College Life,” William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine 9, no. 2 (October 1900), 76.
8. Jump up ↑ Ibid., 80
9. Jump up ↑ ”Glimpses of Old College Life” William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine 9, no. 1 (July 1900), 19.
10. Jump up ↑ Ellis Merton Coulter, “John Brown,” 131.
11. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
12. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
13. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
14. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
15. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
16. Jump up ↑ Ibid.
17. Jump up ↑ Ibid.