James Brown (September 11, 1766April 7, 1835) was a Virginia-born American lawyer, planter and politician who served as a Secretary of State for the new state of Kentucky, and later as U.S. Senator from Louisiana, and Minister to France (1823-1829) before his retirement and death in Philadelphia. Early and family life Born near Staunton, Virginia, to John Brown and his wife, young James Brown had brothers John and Samuel Brown and sisters Mary and Elizabeth who either survived him or had children who survived him, unlike his brother Preston. His brother John Brown became the U.S. Senator from Kentucky and active in its gaining statehood. Well-connected among the southern elite, they were also cousins of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge and Francis Preston. James Brown attended Washington College (later Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia, and the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. James Brown read law, was admitted to the Virginia bar, and commenced practice in Frankfort, Kentucky, then still part of Virginia. He married Ann "Nancy" Hart, one of seven children of Revolutionary War veteran and successful businessman Col. Thomas Hart, who moved from North Carolina to Maryland and finally Lexington, Kentucky. Her sister Lucretia married Henry Clay, who became U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Her brother Nathaniel G. S. Hart died in the War of 1812. They did not have any children who survived them. James Brown was the uncle of James Brown Clay, Henry Clay, Jr., John Morrison Clay, the great uncle of B. Gratz Brown, and the cousin-in-law of Thomas Hart Benton. Career James Brown commanded a company of Virginia sharpshooters in an expedition against the Indians in 1789. He served as secretary to Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky, in 1792. On June 5, 1792, Shelby nominated Brown as Secretary of State; he was confirmed by the state senate and served until October 13, 1796. Soon after the United States made the Louisiana Purchase, Brown moved to New Orleans, where he was appointed in 1804 as secretary of the Territory of Orleans. He served from October 1 to December 11 of that year, when he was appointed as U.S. Attorney-General for the Territory. Brown became one of the wealthiest planters and slave owners on the German Coast. His extensive plantation produced sugar through the use of slave labor. In January 1811, some slaves from James Brown's plantations (some of them jointly owned by