Benjamin Gratz Brown (May 28, 1826December 13, 1885) was an American politician. He was a
U.S. Senator, the
20th Governor of Missouri, and the
Liberal Republican and
Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in the
presidential election of 1872.
Born in
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...
, Brown established a legal practice in
St. Louis, Missouri. Both of his grandfathers,
John Brown and
Jesse Bledsoe, represented Kentucky in the Senate. After settling in St. Louis, Brown won election to the
Missouri House of Representatives. He became an ally of
Thomas Hart Benton and
Francis Preston Blair Jr. in the struggle for control of the state Democratic Party against pro-slavery forces. As the 1850s progressed, Brown continued to speak against
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, and he helped found the Missouri
Republican Party.
During the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, Brown worked to keep Missouri in the
Union. In 1863, he was elected to the Senate as a member of the
Radical Union Party. In the Senate, he aligned with the
Radical Republicans and opposed many of President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
's policies. He was part of a movement that unsuccessfully sought to replace Lincoln as the 1864 Republican nominee. After the war, Brown strongly opposed President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
's
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
policies and supported the
Freedmen's Bureau bills.
Brown resigned from the Senate in 1867 but helped found the
Liberal Republican Party in 1870. The party chose Brown as its nominee for governor, and he defeated incumbent Republican Governor
Joseph W. McClurg. Brown sought the new party's 1872 presidential nomination but was defeated by
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...
. After the nomination of Greeley, the
1872 Liberal Republican convention chose Brown as the party's vice presidential nominee. Seeking to avoid splitting the vote of opponents to President
Ulysses S. Grant's re-election, the
1872 Democratic National Convention subsequently nominated the Liberal Republican ticket. The Republican ticket nonetheless triumphed in the election, as Grant won 55.6% of the popular vote and a majority of the
electoral vote. Greeley died after the election but before the electors officially cast their votes, and Brown received some of Greeley's electoral votes. After the election, Gratz returned to his law practice and affiliated with the Democratic Party.
Early life
Brown was born in 1826 in
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...
, the son of Judith Ann (Bledsoe) and
Mason Brown. He was the grandson of Senators
John Brown and
Jesse Bledsoe of Kentucky. He graduated from
Transylvania University in Lexington in 1845 where he was a member of
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...
fraternity, and from
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, in 1847.
He studied law, and later settled in
St. Louis,
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
. There he joined his cousin,
Francis P. Blair Jr., and Senator
Thomas Hart Benton in a struggle against the pro-
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
faction for control of Missouri's
Democratic Party. He was a correspondent for the ''Missouri Republican'' at the
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) and served as the secretary at the treaty negotiations. He married Mary Gunn (1842–1888) in 1858, and together they had six children.
Political career
Brown became a member of the
Missouri House of Representatives and served there between 1852 and 1858. An able lawyer in St. Louis, Brown made a speech in 1857 against a joint resolution opposing emancipation. The speech marked the beginning of the
Free Soil movement in Missouri. He was a leader of the movement. After that, he edited the ''
Missouri Democrat'' between 1854 and 1859. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Missouri in 1857.
On August 26, 1856, he fought a
duel on
Bloody Island with
Thomas C. Reynolds (then the St. Louis District Attorney) over the slavery issue. Reynolds was not hurt but Brown was shot in the leg and limped for the rest of his life.
Brown became a founding member of the
Republican Party in Missouri. Throughout the 1860s, he and Blair contested control of the state's Republican party. He worked to prevent Missouri from
seceding from the Union in 1861. After that, he served as an officer in the
Union Army during the first half of the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, raising a regiment (the 4th U.S. Reserves) and serving as its
colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
. He recruited over 1,100 soldiers for his regiment, many of whom were St. Louis-area
German-Americans, a key constituency that Brown courted for his political advantage.
Brown resigned from the Army after he was elected in late 1863 as a
Radical Unionist to the
U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the expulsion of
Waldo P. Johnson. Brown opposed
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
's moderation and objected to the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...
because it did not free slaves in Missouri and other loyal border states. He was a key figure in the move to replace Lincoln with
John C. Frémont in the
presidential election of 1864. In the Senate, Brown was chairman of the
Public Buildings and Grounds committee and of the
Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense. Following Lincoln's assassination, Brown was vehemently opposed to new President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
's moderate plan of
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
. He also supported the Radical-sponsored Civil Rights Bill and Freedmen's Bureau Bill. Brown left the Senate in 1867 because of ill health.
In 1870, dissatisfied with the Missouri Republicans, he joined the new
Liberal Republican Party. The party nominated Brown for governor, and he defeated Republican incumbent
Joseph W. McClurg. Brown served as the Governor between 1871 and 1873.
Presidential election of 1872

Brown was one of the contenders for the Liberal Republican presidential nomination, but lost to newspaper editor
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...
. Brown was the vice presidential candidate under Greeley in the
presidential election of 1872 for the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties. Greeley died on November 29 of illness, before the
electoral college could vote, and the electoral votes (63 of 66) that were to have been for Greeley were split among four others, including Brown, who received eighteen of those electoral votes. The Republicans, incumbent
president Ulysses S. Grant and the vice presidential candidate, U.S. Senator
Henry Wilson of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, won the election anyway.
Brown returned to his law practice, quit the Republican Party and resumed his ties to the Democrats. He died in
Kirkwood, Missouri
Kirkwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis located in western St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 29,461. Founded in 1853, the city is named after James P. Kirkwood, chief engineer of the Pacific Railr ...
and is interred there at Oak Hill Cemetery.
References
Retrieved on 2009-03-30
External links
Brown biography*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, B. Gratz
1826 births
1885 deaths
1872 United States vice-presidential candidates
Abolitionists from Missouri
American duellists
Candidates in the 1872 United States presidential election
Democratic Party governors of Missouri
Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees
Liberal Republican Party state governors of the United States
Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives
Missouri Liberal Republicans
Missouri Republicans
Missouri Unconditional Unionists
Politicians from Lexington, Kentucky
Politicians from St. Louis County, Missouri
People of Missouri in the American Civil War
Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives
Republican Party United States senators from Missouri
Transylvania University alumni
Unconditional Union Party United States senators
Yale College alumni
19th-century United States senators
19th-century members of the Missouri General Assembly