James Sproat Brown (February 1, 1824 – April 15, 1878) was an American lawyer and politician who became the first Attorney General of Wisconsin.

The 16-year-old Brown moved west to Cincinnati, Ohio, studying law and learning to speak German, supporting himself by teaching school.

[4] In the heated political climate preceding the American Civil War, an arsonist tried to burn down his house in 1858 but only succeeded in destroying a woodshed.

[5] He declined to run for re-election in 1862, facing criticism for his handling of a bank riot in June 1861 as well as for cuts in the police budget.

[6] Instead, in 1862, Brown ran for Congress as a War Democrat and defeated incumbent Republican John F. Potter to represent Wisconsin's 1st congressional district.

His first wife, the former Elizabeth Shepard (1835–1863) of New York, was a decade his junior and they had sons Clarence S. Brown (1856–1925) and James (1859–1913).

Brown's elder son Clarence was also elected district attorney of Milwaukee County, serving in the 1890s.