Albert G. Brown
| Albert Brown | |
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Confederate States Senator from Mississippi |
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In office February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
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United States Senator from Mississippi |
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In office January 7, 1854 – January 12, 1861 |
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| Preceded by | Walker Brooke |
| Succeeded by | Hiram Revels |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Mississippi's 4th congressional district | |
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In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853 |
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| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Wiley P. Harris |
| 14th Governor of Mississippi | |
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In office January 10, 1844 – January 10, 1848 |
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| Preceded by | Tilghman Tucker |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Matthews |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Mississippi's at-large congressional district | |
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In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas J. Word |
| Succeeded by | William M. Gwin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 31, 1813 Chester County, South Carolina, US |
| Died | June 12, 1880 (aged 67) Terry, Mississippi, US |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater |
Mississippi College Jefferson College, Mississippi |
Albert Gallatin Brown (May 31, 1813 – June 12, 1880) was Governor of Mississippi from 1844 to 1848 and a United States Senator from Mississippi from 1854 through 1861 when he withdrew. In 1829, Brown entered Mississippi College, but soon transferred to Jefferson College, which he attended for about six months. He was a Democrat.
Albert Gallatin Brown was born to Joseph and Elizabeth (Rice) Brown, a poor farming family, in the Chester District of South Carolina at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains on May 31, 1813. In 1823, when Albert was only 10 years old his family moved to the new State of Mississippi. The Brown family settled Copiah County south of the State Capital of Jackson, Mississippi. Raising cotton in the new frontier state of Mississippi proved to be lucrative for the Brown family. In 1824, just one year after settling in Mississippi, Joseph Brown was elected Justice of the Peace in Copiah County. By 1825, two years after arriving in Mississippi, Joseph Brown was third largest taxpayer Copiah County, owning 18 slaves. By 1832, he was farming a plantation of 1,600 acres and owned 23 slaves.
During his lifetime, Albert Gallatin Brown was one of the most popular and influential men in the state of Mississippi. He is considered the father of the public school system and the University of Mississippi. His rhetorical attacks on illiteracy will live forever as classic contributions to the cause of Education in Mississippi.
He was also a strong advocate for the expansion of slavery. In 1858 he strategized: "I want a foothold in Central America... because I want to plant slavery there...I want Cuba,... Tamaulipas, Potosi, and one or two other Mexican States; and I want them all for the same reason - for the planting or spreading of slavery." (Akhil Reed Amar, America's Constitution, A Biography (2005) 267, quoting M.W. Mcklusky, ed., Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of the Hon. Albert G. Brown (1859), 594-5)
"Albert Gallatin Brown possessed magical powers. With many learnt spells, handsome continence, surrounded by a luxuriant, flowing beard and dark-curly hair, in every sense he looked distinguished. Courageous, he was void of vanity; animated, he was persuasive; his spirit, crackerish to the extreme.” In his speech, Reuben Davis, who knew him well, states in his book, Reminiscences on Mississippi and Mississippians, that Brown "was the best balanced man I ever knew...In politics he had strategy with-out corruption, and handled all his opponents with skill but never descended to intrigue." During a lifetime most of which was spent in an epoch of bitter controversy, his most intimate friends never heard him speak ill of others.
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Wikipedia