and a state school for the deaf in Knoxville, both of which were launched during the administration of fellow Whig governor James C. Jones earlier in the decade. Brown also signed a law calling for true public schools to be established throughout the state, but it was left to local governments to implement the provisions of this law, and very little was to come out of it. The end of the Mexican–American War raised the issue of the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired territory. Brown opposed the Wilmot Proviso, which called for slavery to be banned in all territory acquired as a result of the war, but the division in the national Whig Party on the issue damaged the party's image in slave-holding Tennessee. Though Brown fought a competitive campaign in 1849, he was defeated in his bid for reelection by General William Trousdale. Minister to Russia Following Brown's defeat in the Tennessee gubernatorial race of 1849, President Zachary Taylor, at the urging of Tennessee Whig Senator John Bell, appointed Brown U.S. Minister to Russia on May 2, 1850. Brown arrived in St. Petersburg in late July 1850, and was presented to Emperor Nicholas I on August 13, 1850. Unaccustomed to the harsh Russian winter, Brown fell ill just a few months after his arrival, and briefly resigned as minister in January 1851, stating that the Russian climate was "unfitting for the abodes of Man." Upon his recovery in March 1851, however, he withdrew his resignation. Brown arrived in Russia at a turbulent time in Russo-American affairs. The Emperor was uneasy about the recent Revolutions of 1848, which consisted largely of democratic revolts against monarchies, and was aware that many Americans sympathized with these revolts. Americans, likewise, were angry over Russia's intervention in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and its deposing of pro-democracy leader Lajos Kossuth, and some Americans were calling for intervention on behalf of the revolutionaries. Though Brown personally disapproved of Nicholas's actions, he nevertheless warned American leaders that Kossuth was a troublemaker, and argued that American intervention would be disastrous. Brown had a somewhat pessimistic view of Russian society. He stated that Russians lacked the spirit of invention, and were consistently copying other countries' innovations in both industry and art. "All they have is borrowed," he wrote, "except the miserable climate." While he praised Nicholas's work ethic, he thought the emperor micromanaged his various departments.