He served as the 11th Governor of Tennessee from 1845 to 1847, and as United States Postmaster General from 1857 until his death in 1859.

[2] He studied law with Judge James Trimble in Nashville, Tennessee,[4] and was admitted to the bar in 1817.

In 1818, he moved to Giles County, Tennessee, and became the law partner of future president James K.

[4] After his third term in Congress, Brown initially planned to retire and focus on his business affairs, but he accepted the Democratic nomination for governor in 1845.

Brown and his brother-in-law, Gideon Pillow, coauthored a resolution calling for the support of the Compromise of 1850.

[4] Brown was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1852 where Franklin Pierce and William R. King were nominated.

[4] The following year, newly elected president James Buchanan appointed him Postmaster General, a position in which he served until his death.