Ethan Allen Brown

Background

Ethan Allen Brown was born on July 4, 1766 at Darien, Connecticut, the son of Roger Brown, a considerable land-owner.

Education

Ethan received private instruction in the classics, but his subsequent education for the law was delayed by financial embarrassments due to the Revolution.

Career

Business ventures proving profitable, however, in 1797 Ethan Brown entered the law office of Alexander Hamilton, and was finally admitted to practise in 1802. A trip through western Pennsylvania, then down the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans, with a subsequent voyage to Europe to dispose of flour for which the local market was not advan tageous, proved to be the turning-point of Brown's career.

Returning to the West, he purchased a tract of land at what is now Rising Sun, Indiana, and in 1804 established a law practise at Cincinnati. Professional progress was rapid, and in 1810 he was appointed by the legislature to a judgeship of the supreme court of Ohio.

This he resigned in December 1818, having previously been elected governor by a vote of 30, 194 as against 8, 075 for James Dunlap, also a Democrat. Two problems confronted Brown as governor. The first was the active opposition in the state to the rechartered Bank of the United States. This struggle, in which the Governor was actively interested, culminated in virtual nullification when, in total defiance of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in McCulloch vs. Maryland, the State of Ohio forcibly taxed the branch banks at Cincinnati and Chillicothe.

The second problem was indicated in the message to the legislature, January 8, 1819, wherein the Governor asserted that "Roads and canals are veins and arteries to the body politic that diffuse supplies, health, vigor and animation to the whole system, nor is this idea of their extensive use and beneficial influence new".

The canals were dug, and Brown became to Ohio what De Witt Clinton was to New York. Reelected governor in 1820 by a vote of 34, 836, as against 9, 426 for Jeremiah Morrow, and 4, 348 for William Henry Harrison, Brown resigned in 1822, in order to fill the unexpired senatorial term of William A. Trimble, deceased.

His previous activity in canals now obtained for Brown the chairmanship of the Committee on Roads and Canals. He favored particularly the Cumberland Road as helpful alike to Ohio and the nation. He was friendly, also, to a "grand connection of the whole coast of the Atlantic by internal navigation, " and cited Gallatin's report on a chain of canals as "sufficient to immortalize his memory".

Succeeded in the Senate by William Henry Harrison, Brown held from 1825 to 1830 the congenial post of canal commissioner in Ohio.

In 1830 he was named by President Jackson United States minister to Brazil, remaining there four years, a conscientious representative of his government during a troubled time in Brazilian history. The slave trade and American claims against Brazil were the mission's chief concern. On Brown's return he was for one year commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington, a position for which he was well fitted by integrity and experience.

Retiring from public life in 1836 at the age of seventy, Brown resided among his kindred at Rising Sun.

Sixteen years later his sudden death at Indianapolis, where he was acting as vice-president at a political convention, called forth the eulogy that his many virtues "reflected honor on offices which are supposed to confer honor on their incumbents".

He died at a Democratic Convention in Indianapolis in 1852 when he was 75 years old.

Achievements

• Ethan Allen Brown was appointed as Commissioner of the Land Office in Washington D. C. in 1835, then he later became a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843. Another achievement was when he was named by President Jackson United States minister to Brazil, a conscientious representative of his government during a troubled time in Brazilian history.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Review Of The Opinion Of The Supreme Court Of The United States, In The Case Of Cohens Vs. Virginia

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Politics

A supporter of President Andrew Jackson, Ethan Brown became a member of the Democratic Party and was appointed by Jackson as United States Envoy Charge d' Affaires to Brazil in 1830 and served until 1834.

Membership

Ethan Brown was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1818.

Connections

Father:

Roger Brown

land-owner

References

• Ethan Allen: of Green mountain fame, a hero of the revolution