for the war gradually declined, and Brown was defeated in his reelection bid by Neill S. Brown (no relation) in 1847. Brown was a slaveholder. In 1850, He was a delegate to the Nashville Convention, which was a gathering of delegates from slave-holding states to consider a course of action should the federal government attempt to ban slavery. Brown and his brother-in-law, Gideon Pillow, coauthored a resolution calling for the support of the Compromise of 1850. This motion was voted down, but the convention did put aside, at least temporarily, the issue of secession. Brown was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1852 where Franklin Pierce and William R. King were nominated. In 1854, he delivered an address to the University of North Carolina's literary societies. Brown attended the 1856 Democratic National Convention, where he was considered a possible vice-presidential nominee. The following year, newly elected president James Buchanan appointed him Postmaster General, a position in which he served until his death. Brown died on March 8, 1859, and is interred at Nashville's Mount Olivet Cemetery. Family Brown married his first wife, Sarah Burrus, at an undetermined date, and they had six children. Following her death, he married Cynthia Pillow Sanders, the sister of Gideon Pillow and widow of John W. Sanders, and they had one son. Hill McAlister, a great-grandson of Brown, served as Governor of Tennessee in the 1930s. Recognition USS Aaron V. Brown, a revenue cutter, was named after him. References External links Speeches of Aaron V. Brown from Google Books Tennessee State Library & Archives, Papers of Governor Aaron Venable Brown, 1845-1847 The University of Richmond: Governor Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee and the Question of Slavery National Governors Association |- |- |- |- 1795 births 1859 deaths United States Postmasters General Democratic Party governors of Tennessee Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Tennessee lawyers University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American people of the Mexican–American War People from Giles County, Tennessee People from Brunswick County, Virginia Buchanan administration cabinet members Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)