Carl Browne's career began as a house painter and then he began painting large-scale landscapes. Moving to California in 1869, he began working as an editorial cartoonist for a newspaper. His drawings attracted the attention of political leader Denis Kearney, who hired Browne as his secretary. Browne accompanied Kearney on a trip to Washington in 1878 to meet with Rutherford B. Hayes in support of legislation preventing Chinese immigration to California.
Browne continued as a political agitator after parting ways with Kearney. He also tried his hand at preaching and selling patent medicine. He was known for his eccentric clothing and behavior. Browne met
Jacob Coxey in Chicago in the early 1890s, and they bonded over a shared interest in monetary reform. Browne encouraged Coxey to lead a march on Washington from Coxey's home town of Massillon, Ohio, to demand publicly funded jobs to combat unemployment. The march ended with both Browne and Coxey in jail.
Shortly after being released from jail, Browne eloped with Coxey's daughter; the two men never spoke again. The marriage did not last very long. In the early twentieth century, Browne was again speaking on political causes in California, as well as reporting on radical gatherings, sometimes illustrating the stories with his own cartoons.