Joseph E. Brown
Early Life and Time Leading up to Civil War
Joseph Emerson Brown was born on April 15, 1821 in Pickens, South Carolina. He went to Yale Law School and became a lawyer and a businessman. Brown’s career in politics started when he was elected to the Georgia state senate in 1849 as a leader of the Democratic party.
In November 1857, Joseph Brown beat out more widely recognized and experienced politicians and was elected as the governor of Georgia. He quickly won over the state with the exception of some of the plantation owners, and his representation of the common white people of the state helped his reelection in 1859.
As the Civil War and secession became a topic of discussion, Governor Brown quickly established himself as a firm secessionist and supporter of slavery. Expecting war, Brown pushed the legislature to start making military preparations. After Lincoln’s election in 1860, Brown warned Georgia that the North wanted to abolish slavery, and declared that South Carolina should have been followed in secession by Georgia, and by 1861, Georgia had officially left the Union.
In November 1857, Joseph Brown beat out more widely recognized and experienced politicians and was elected as the governor of Georgia. He quickly won over the state with the exception of some of the plantation owners, and his representation of the common white people of the state helped his reelection in 1859.
As the Civil War and secession became a topic of discussion, Governor Brown quickly established himself as a firm secessionist and supporter of slavery. Expecting war, Brown pushed the legislature to start making military preparations. After Lincoln’s election in 1860, Brown warned Georgia that the North wanted to abolish slavery, and declared that South Carolina should have been followed in secession by Georgia, and by 1861, Georgia had officially left the Union.
During the Civil War
Joseph Brown was an ardent advocate of state rights, and had often expressed his concern about growing centralized power in government. So, it came as no surprise when the Confederate government was established in Richmond, Virginia in June after the start of the war in April 1861, that he would be suspicious of the growing authority of the Confederate government as well. His first display of opposition to the Confederate war effort came with the first Confederate draft in 1862, when Brown publicly challenged it. Brown did not want the state military forces to be included in the centralized Confederate military, so when his attempts to exempt them from the draft failed, he kept reinforcing state troops with men either too young or too old so that Georgia would always be defended. He also made it so that men in Georgia that found jobs in the state bureaucracy would be exempt from the draft. This led way to a rivalry between Brown and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, as Brown had set an example by defying the draft that many other states followed.
In one letter from the correspondence between Davis and Brown written on April 22, Brown wrote . . . *
"When the Government of the United States disregarded and attempted to trample upon the rights of the States, Georgia set its power at defiance and seceded from the Union rather than submit to the consolidation of all power in the hands of the Central or Federal Government. . .
The Conscription Act not only puts it in the power of the Executive of the Confederacy to disorganize her troops, which she was compelled to call into the field, for her own defence . . . because of the neglect of the Confederacy to place sufficient troops upon her coast for her defence—which would have required less than half the number she has sent to the field—but, also, places it in his power to destroy her State Government by disbanding her law-making power. . . This Act not only disorganizes the military system of all the States but consolidates almost the entire military power of the States in the Confederate Executive with the appointment of the officers of the militia, and enables him at his pleasure to cripple or destroy the civil government of each State, by arresting and carrying into the Confederate service the officers charged, by the State Constitution with the administration of the State Government."
During the war, Brown made sure that his state was taken care of. He responsibly regulated taxes so that wealthier citizens paid their part, and he set up a welfare system that distributed necessities for soldiers and civilians. Because of his efforts, Brown was reelected governor in 1863.
Brown continued in his fierce opposition of Davis and the Confederate government in general, which damaged the Confederate war effort. When it was declared the the army could legally seize goods and slave laborers as needed, Brown was there to voice his outrage. He thwarted Confederate attempts to assert martial law and seize the Western and Atlantic Railroad. In addition to this, the most vehement criticism concerning tax and blockade-running policies in the Confederacy came from Governor Brown. For every move that Jefferson Davis made, Brown was adamant that he denounced it.
As the war dwindled and Georgia’s war effort was gradually put to a stop by Union armies, Brown called for peace as he continued to undermine any efforts Davis made to win an advantage for the South. Just like various Peace Democrats battled with Lincoln on every step he took, Brown was determined to show that Davis could not do anything right.
*to read the full correspondence between Joseph Brown and Jefferson Davis, go to this link.
In one letter from the correspondence between Davis and Brown written on April 22, Brown wrote . . . *
"When the Government of the United States disregarded and attempted to trample upon the rights of the States, Georgia set its power at defiance and seceded from the Union rather than submit to the consolidation of all power in the hands of the Central or Federal Government. . .
The Conscription Act not only puts it in the power of the Executive of the Confederacy to disorganize her troops, which she was compelled to call into the field, for her own defence . . . because of the neglect of the Confederacy to place sufficient troops upon her coast for her defence—which would have required less than half the number she has sent to the field—but, also, places it in his power to destroy her State Government by disbanding her law-making power. . . This Act not only disorganizes the military system of all the States but consolidates almost the entire military power of the States in the Confederate Executive with the appointment of the officers of the militia, and enables him at his pleasure to cripple or destroy the civil government of each State, by arresting and carrying into the Confederate service the officers charged, by the State Constitution with the administration of the State Government."
During the war, Brown made sure that his state was taken care of. He responsibly regulated taxes so that wealthier citizens paid their part, and he set up a welfare system that distributed necessities for soldiers and civilians. Because of his efforts, Brown was reelected governor in 1863.
Brown continued in his fierce opposition of Davis and the Confederate government in general, which damaged the Confederate war effort. When it was declared the the army could legally seize goods and slave laborers as needed, Brown was there to voice his outrage. He thwarted Confederate attempts to assert martial law and seize the Western and Atlantic Railroad. In addition to this, the most vehement criticism concerning tax and blockade-running policies in the Confederacy came from Governor Brown. For every move that Jefferson Davis made, Brown was adamant that he denounced it.
As the war dwindled and Georgia’s war effort was gradually put to a stop by Union armies, Brown called for peace as he continued to undermine any efforts Davis made to win an advantage for the South. Just like various Peace Democrats battled with Lincoln on every step he took, Brown was determined to show that Davis could not do anything right.
*to read the full correspondence between Joseph Brown and Jefferson Davis, go to this link.