The Forum, Or, Forty Years Full Practice at the Philadelphia Bar
(Volume 1 of a two-volume memoir of Brown's forty years of...)
Volume 1 of a two-volume memoir of Brown's forty years of practice at the Philadelphia bar, published in 1856. It includes his Golden Rules for the examination of witnesses.
(A selection of Brown's speeches from important trials, em...)
A selection of Brown's speeches from important trials, embracing a period of forty years of practice, edited by his son Robert Eden Brown and published in Philadelphia in 1873.
Eulogium on the life and character of the late Hon. Joseph Reed Ingersoll
(A eulogy on the life and character of the late Hon. Josep...)
A eulogy on the life and character of the late Hon. Joseph Reed Ingersoll, one of the commemorative addresses that Brown was invited to deliver on notable occasions.
(A romantic comedy in five acts about the popular love sto...)
A romantic comedy in five acts about the popular love story of Princess Mary and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. It was written in 1830, published in Philadelphia by Carey and Hart in 1836, and performed at the Walnut Street Theatre on March 20, 1837.
David Paul Brown (1795–1872) was an American lawyer, orator, and dramatist who practiced in Philadelphia for four decades. He was noted for his skill in cross-examination and his oratory, and he wrote verse tragedies and comedies performed in Philadelphia theatres, as well as a memoir of his years at the Philadelphia bar.
Background
David Paul Brown was born on September 28, 1795, in Philadelphia, the only child of wealthy and well-educated parents. His father, Paul Brown, was descended from Quaker ancestors who had come from England with Lord Berkeley and settled in New Jersey. The Religious Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, originated in seventeenth-century England, and its members were a distinctive presence in colonial New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Paul Brown moved from Berkeley, New Jersey, to Philadelphia in 1790, where he married Rhoda Thackara of Salem, New Jersey. Philadelphia was then the capital of both the United States and Pennsylvania, so the family's life unfolded in a city that was home to the national and state governments. His parents raised him in an atmosphere of wealth and encouraged him to spend money freely and intelligently.
The household's prosperity continued after his parents' deaths. When his father died in 1815, he left David a comfortable fortune.
Education
Brown's early education was largely domestic. His mother taught him until he was eight, and he later owed to her his unusual discrimination in speech. Private tutors followed, and he attended some of the best local schools. Private tutoring was a common route for children of prosperous families in the early republic, when formal schooling was often supplemented by household instruction.
After his mother's death in 1810, he was sent to the home of the Reverend Dr. Daggett, a Massachusetts clergyman, who directed his education until 1812. Although David favored law, he took up medicine to please his father and became a pupil of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a leading Philadelphia physician and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. When Rush died in 1813, Brown transferred his studies to law under William Rawle, another prominent Philadelphia lawyer. Reading law under an established practitioner was the customary path into the legal profession in that period, and Brown became Rawle's protégé.
Career
In September 1816, just as he attained his majority, Brown was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. Soon afterward he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the district and circuit courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States. The Pennsylvania court was the highest tribunal in the state, while the federal Supreme Court stood at the head of the national judiciary, so these admissions allowed him to appear before courts at several levels.
His courtroom reputation rested largely on cross-examination. He was retained in almost every important criminal case in the Philadelphia courts. His practice was lucrative, but it did not result in the accumulation of a fortune. In 1824 he won distinction for his brilliant and successful defense of Judge Robert Porter, who had been impeached before the Senate of Pennsylvania. He rarely practiced in courts outside Pennsylvania and regularly declined to consider public office.
Brown's reputation as a public speaker quickly rivaled his professional fame, and he was repeatedly invited to deliver eulogies whenever a notable occasion called for a speaker of unusual oratorical repute. Contemporaries regarded him as a forceful orator and an accomplished elocutionist. Alongside a busy practice, he wrote reviews of current books and tried his hand at poetry and drama. His casual poetry, which appeared in the Philadelphia Sunday Despatch and elsewhere, is judged largely negligible, whereas his dramatic work is considered more significant.
Within about two weeks, and principally while riding on horseback to a fashionable suburban spa, he composed Sertorius; or, The Roman Patriot, a tragedy in verse. He deposited its copyright in August 1830 as author. It was produced on December 14, 1830, at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, with Junius Brutus Booth in the title role. The theatre had opened in 1794 as the New Theatre and became the city's principal playhouse. The play has been judged a somewhat vapid imitation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Addison's Cato, yet its lines were so well delivered by the famous actor that it was presented nine times. It was revived at the Arch Street Theatre on February 6, 1832, and remained in the repertoire of the elder Booth. The Arch Street Theatre was one of Philadelphia's three principal theatres for plays during the nineteenth century.
A romantic comedy, The Prophet of St. Paul's, was also written in 1830. It dealt with the popular love story of Princess Mary and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. It received a belated performance at the Walnut Street Theatre on March 20, 1837, and closed after its third performance. The play was published in Philadelphia by Carey and Hart in 1836. Less significant plays were The Trial, a tragedy, and a farce called Love and Honor, or, The Generous Soldier.
In 1856 Brown published his reminiscences in two large volumes entitled The Forum; or, Forty Years Full Practice at the Philadelphia Bar. The work includes his Golden Rules for the examination of witnesses. In 1873 his son edited a selection of his speeches from important trials, The Forensic Speeches of David Paul Brown.
Brown took a prominent part in the anti-slavery movement in Philadelphia. He acted as counsel on several occasions for African Americans accused of being fugitives from slavery, and in February 1841 Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church presented him with a pair of silver pitchers in recognition of his advocacy. In 1871 he delivered an address on intemperance at the third anniversary meeting of the Temperance Blessing in the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Brown died in Philadelphia on July 11, 1872, and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, one of the rural cemeteries established in Philadelphia in the mid-1830s.
Achievements
Won distinction in 1824 for his defense of Judge Robert Porter, who had been impeached before the Senate of Pennsylvania, a case that established his reputation as a leading advocate.
Developed a reputation for skilled cross-examination that brought him retention in almost every important criminal case in the Philadelphia courts.
Wrote Sertorius; or, The Roman Patriot, a verse tragedy produced at the Chestnut Street Theatre in 1830 with Junius Brutus Booth, which was presented nine times.
Acted as counsel in Philadelphia courts for several African Americans accused of being fugitives from slavery.
(A tragedy in verse published in Philadelphia by E. L. Car...)
1830
Membership
Brown's memberships were in anti-slavery organizations. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society was founded in 1775 and was among the oldest such societies in the United States, working toward the end of slavery and assisting African Americans in legal matters. Brown is documented as one of its prominent members.
The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society, formed in 1833, campaigned for the immediate emancipation of enslaved people and promoted the cause through meetings, publications, and public speeches. Brown served as its president, and his public speaking and legal work on behalf of African Americans placed him at the center of Philadelphia's abolitionist community.
Prominent member
Pennsylvania Abolition Society
,
United States
President
Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society
,
United States
Personality
In court Brown was regarded as preeminently histrionic, and he was at times too fond of the orotund phraseology that characterized the older generation of lawyers. He lived on a most lavish scale, in keeping with his father's conviction that a prosperous man should spend his income freely to avoid the evils of indolence. He was not concerned over the failure of his dramatic efforts, which he regarded as diversions from the work of a busy lawyer.
Physical Characteristics:
Brown was a man of medium height and compact build, with a high, broad forehead, flashing dark eyes, a large mouth, and a voice of great compass.
Quotes from others about the person
Friends testified to his amiable disposition, his urbanity of manner, and his other social graces. An obituary described him as a steadfast friend, counselor, and spokesman of the anti-slavery cause in Philadelphia, and as its chivalrous champion on nearly all occasions.
Interests
Writing reviews of current books and verse, and a sustained enthusiasm for Shakespeare's plays.
Writers
William Shakespeare
Connections
Brown married Emmeline Catharine Handy on December 24, 1826. Their son, Robert Eden Brown, edited The Forensic Speeches of David Paul Brown, Selected from Important Trials and Embracing a Period of Forty Years, published in 1873. The volume preserved his father's courtroom oratory for later readers.
Brown's parents, Paul Brown and Rhoda Thackara, were the founders of the family's Philadelphia life. Paul Brown's move from New Jersey and his marriage to Rhoda Thackara of Salem, New Jersey, established the family in the city where their son was born.
Father:
Paul Brown
Of Quaker ancestry; moved from Berkeley, New Jersey, to Philadelphia in 1790 and married Rhoda Thackara there. He left his son a comfortable fortune at his death in 1815.
Mother:
Rhoda Thackara
Of Salem, New Jersey; married Paul Brown in Philadelphia and taught her son until he was eight. She died in 1810.
Wife:
Emmeline Catharine Handy
Married Brown on December 24, 1826.
Son:
Robert Eden Brown
Edited The Forensic Speeches of David Paul Brown, Selected from Important Trials and Embracing a Period of Forty Years, published in 1873.
References
Legends of the Bar: David Paul Brown
A profile of Brown as a lawyer, orator, and dramatist, covering his protégé relationship with William Rawle, his 1824 defense of Judge Robert Porter, and his tragedy produced in 1830.
Presentation Pitcher
An essay on the silver pitchers presented to Brown in 1841 by Mother Bethel AME Church, which also discusses his legal representation of African Americans accused of being fugitives from slavery.
Lawyers and Poetry: David Paul Brown
A profile of Brown as an orator, lawyer, and playwright, including a legal obituary reprinted from the Albany Law Journal in 1872 and a list of his writings.
David Paul Brown [graphic]
A Library Company of Philadelphia record of a full-length portrait of Brown, identifying him as a Philadelphia lawyer, orator, and dramatist and a president of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society.
Silver pitchers presented by Mother Bethel AME Church,
United States
Presented in February 1841 by disfranchised citizens of Philadelphia through Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in recognition of his moral courage and his advocacy for the rights of the oppressed regardless of complexion or condition.
Presented in February 1841 by disfranchised citizens of Philadelphia through Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in recognition of his moral courage and his advocacy for the rights of the oppressed regardless of complexion or condition.
