Background
Joseph Emerson Brown was born in Pickens District, S.C., on April 15, 1821, but his family soon moved to the mountains of northern Georgia. His parents were Mackey Joseph Brown and Sally Rice Brown.
127 Wall St, New Haven, CT 06511, United States
In 1846 Joseph E. Brown graduated from Yale Law School.
Joseph Emerson Brown was born in Pickens District, S.C., on April 15, 1821, but his family soon moved to the mountains of northern Georgia. His parents were Mackey Joseph Brown and Sally Rice Brown.
At the age of 19, Brown attended Calhoun Academy in Anderson District, South Carolina. He returned to Canton, Georgia, where he directed the local academy and read law. In 1845, after admission to the Georgia bar, he left to attend Yale Law School. He graduated in 1846, settled in Canton, and began practicing law.
Brown began his political career with an election to the Georgia Senate in 1849. Despite being popular with voters and his fellow Democrats, he refused to run for a second term. With the Democratic Party deeply divided in 1857, Brown emerged as a compromise candidate for governor. He went on to serve three more terms, including the Civil War years.
He took early military action, seizing Fort Pulaski before secession, and the federal arsenal at Augusta soon after. But Brown soon found himself in conflict with Confederate authorities over most legislation, primarily the conscription of soldiers. Brown claimed such dictatorial actions were the reason southern states had originally seceded from the Union. While he continued to care deeply and work tirelessly for Georgia, he was a thorn in the sides of Confederate authorities.
At the war's end, Brown was arrested and taken to Washington but was soon paroled and returned home. His support for Reconstruction (believing it the quickest method to recover from the war's devastation) earned him a pardon from President Andrew Johnson but brought him enmity at home. Still, Brown remained popular with most Georgians and was influential in seeing the state through Reconstruction and the adoption of a new state constitution. He was appointed chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in 1868, serving for two years. During the 1870s, he expanded his business interests to include mining, railroads, and real estate. But the taste for politics never fully left him. In 1880, Brown was appointed to fulfill the United States Senate seat of the resigned John B. Gordon. He went on to be elected to two more terms in the Senate. Brown, Gordon, and Alfred H. Colquitt, known as the Bourbon Triumvirate, dominated Georgia politics during the 1880s. Failing health forced Brown to retire in 1890.
Though Brown consistently maintained proslavery and secessionist attitudes, he was in constant conflict with the Confederate government: he was nearly fanatical in adhering to the doctrine of state sovereignty, while the exigencies of the Civil War forced President Davis to promote centralization of government. Brown opposed Davis's acceptance of state troops without the governor's permission and the appointment of officers to command Georgia troops. He disputed both the wisdom and constitutionality of the conscription law and at times obstructed its application; he protested against the seizure of property without compensation, and he opposed the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
Brown protected the interests of the average Georgian and sought measures to extend benefits to the plain people. He opposed legislation especially favorable to the banks of the state, advocated the establishment of free schools and endowment of the state university, reformed the administration of the state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad, and improved the militia system.
Quotations: "What will be the result of the institution of slavery, which will follow the submission to the inauguration and administration of Mr. Lincoln as the President... it will be the total abolition of slavery... I do not doubt, therefore, that submission to the administration of Mr. Lincoln will result in the final abolition of slavery. If we fail to resist now, we will never again have the strength to resist."
During his postwar career, Brown was a member, along with John B. Gordon and Alfred H. Colquitt, of a group known as the Bourbon Triumvirate, which held much of the political power in the state from 1872 to 1890.
Brown was a self-made man, who raised himself from rural poverty to become an educated lawyer and eventually Georgia state Supreme Court justice. While his public life mirrored admirable qualities, he used his political influence in private business dealings; acquiring great wealth at the misery of others, mainly convict laborers.
Quotes from others about the person
"Yes, Governor Brown's darlings are likely to smell powder at last, and I imagine most of them will be much surprised. Certainly, they never expected to see action. The Governor as good as promised them they wouldn't. Well, that's a good joke on them. They thought they had bomb proofs because the Governor stood up to even Jeff Davis and refused to send them to Virginia. Said they were needed for the defense of their state. Who'd have ever thought the war would come to their own back yard and they'd really have to defend their state?" - Margaret Mitchell
"Gov. Brown, thinking first of the valuable and perishable State property, ordered Gen. Ira Foster, Georgia's quartermaster general (who was always prompt and efficient), to secure its removal. Some of the books and other similar properties were stored in the Lunatic Asylum, three miles out of town. A train of cars was held at the depot to carry off other State property, and Gen. Foster made herculean efforts to carry out the Governor's orders, but, such as the general terror and the rush to leave town, it was next to impossible to procure labor. When the Governor saw the condition of affairs, he went to the penitentiary, had the convicts drawn up in a line, and made them a short speech; he appealed to their patriotic pride and offered pardon to each one who would help remove the State property and then enlist for the defense of Georgia. They responded promptly, were put under the command of Gen. Foster, and did valuable service in loading the train. When that was done each one was given a suit of gray, and a gun, and they were formed into a military company of which one of their numbers was captain. They were ordered to report for duty to Gen. Wayne, who was commanding a small battalion of militia at Milledgeville and also the Georgia cadets from the Military Institute at Marietta." - Frances Letcher Mitchell
In 1847 Joseph Brown married Elizabeth Grisham, daughter of a major land developer. They had several children together.
His son, Joseph Mackey Brown, would also become governor of Georgia (twice).