Charles Dominique Joseph Bouligny (1773–1833) was a lawyer and politician, elected as
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, serving from 1824 to 1829. He had earlier served in the territorial House of Representatives. Of French and Spanish descent, he was brother to Louis Bouligny, a state representative, and uncle of
John Edward Bouligny
John Edward Bouligny (February 5, 1824 – February 20, 1864) was an American politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing the state of Louisiana. He served one term as a member of the Know Nothing movement's ant ...
, who was elected as U.S. Representative from New Orleans.
Life and career
Bouligny, known as ''Dominique'' or its Spanish form ''Domingo'', was born in
,
Louisiana (New Spain)
Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...
, on August 22, 1773. His father,
Francisco Bouligny
Francisco Domingo Joseph Bouligny y Paret (; 4 September 1736 – 25 November 1800) was a high-ranking Spanish military and political figure in Spanish Louisiana. As a francophone in Spanish service, he was a bridge between Creole and French Lou ...
, came to Louisiana as a military official when the territory was transferred from France to Spain and became a high-ranking official in Spanish Louisiana. His mother was Marie-Louise Le Sénéchal d'Auberville, who belonged to a prominent of New Orleans
Creole family. He was the couple's second child and eldest son.
In 1786, when he was 12, Bouligny joined Spain's Louisiana Regiment as a cadet earning a commission as sublieutenant two years later. When the
War of the First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...
broke out in Europe, Bouligny was assigned to the Louisiana Regiment's artillery corps, he later was put in command of a squadron of gunboats sent up the Mississippi to the
District of Illinois, and oversaw the initial construction of
Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas
Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was a Spanish fort in what is now Memphis, Tennessee. Established in May 1795, the fort was erected with a garrison of 150 men to defend Spain, Spanish claims of the territory at the Chickasaw Bluff, Fourth Chick ...
. In December 1795, he was promoted to lieutenant. He resigned from the regiment in 1803 when it departed the territory following Louisiana's return to French rule.
In 1800, he purchased a ''regidor perpétuo'' seat in the ''
cabildo'', the New Orleans municipal governmental council, from Gilberto Andry for 800 silver pesos. A year later, he was elected by the council as one of two "annual commissioners," who represented the Cabildo before the governor and oversaw audits of the city treasurer. After the
Sale of Louisiana in 1803, Bouligny (and other colonial residents) assumed U.S. citizenship. Having resigned his Spanish military commission, Bouligny turned his attention to his large sugarcane plantation upriver from New Orleans where he also produced ''
tafia
Tafia (possibly an alteration of ''ratafia'', via aphesis) is a kind of rum made from sugarcane juice. It is typically unaged whereas rum is typically aged in wooden barrels to reduce the level of fusel. Most of the fusel is absorbed in the first ...
'' rum.
In 1805, Bouligny was elected to the House of Representatives for the
Territory of Orleans
The Territory of Orleans or Orleans Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from October 1, 1804, until April 30, 1812, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Louisiana.
History
In 1804, ...
as one of seven representatives from Orleans County. He was reelected to the house in 1807. During his second term, he served on the committee that drafted the
civil code of 1808. That same year, he was appointed as a major in the territorial militia's Fourth Regiment. In 1813, after Louisiana was admitted to the Union as a state, Bouligny became a member of the Orleans Parish
police jury
In the U.S. state of Louisiana, the typical governing body of the parish is called the Police Jury ( French: ''le Jury de Police''). Not every parish is governed by a Police Jury, but 38 of the 64 parishes use this system.
The Police Jury is the ...
, which oversaw administration of the parish.
During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, Bouligny was appointed to the Committee for the Defense of New Orleans, successfully rallying volunteers to protect the city during the
British invasion of 1814–1815.
In 1824, the Louisiana state legislature elected Bouligny to the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
to complete the term of
Henry Johnson who had been elected governor. Bouligny served in the Senate from November 19, 1824, to March 4, 1829, and aligned himself with
Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...
and the
National Republican Party
The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...
.
He served as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee in the second session of the 20th Congress
where he supported several tariff bills, including the
Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of 1828 was a very high protective tariff that became law in the United States in May 1828. It was a bill designed to not pass Congress because it was seen by free trade supporters as hurting both industry and farming, but surprising ...
, which he felt benefited Louisiana's sugarcane industry.
Rising Jacksonian sentiment doomed Bouligny's chances for reelection in 1829, and the Louisiana legislature elected
Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764May 23, 1836) was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both ...
senator on the fifth round of balloting. Bouligny returned to Louisiana and, after contemplating running for mayor of New Orleans against incumbent
Denis Prieur,
he began divesting from his plantation in favor of property within the City of New Orleans.
Personal life
In early 1803, before Louisiana was returned to France, Bouligny married Anna Arthémise Le Blanc (17851848), the daughter of a prominent allied family.
The couple had 15 children, 12 of whom — six sons and six daughters — lived to adulthood.
Dominique Bouligny died in New Orleans on March 4, 1833. His remains were interred in
Saint Louis Cemetery
Saint Louis Cemetery (french: Cimetière Saint-Louis, es, Cementerio de San Luis) is the name of three Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of the graves are above-ground vaults constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Cemete ...
No. 1.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouligny, Charles
1773 births
1833 deaths
American people of French descent
American people of Spanish descent
Louisiana Creole people of Spanish descent
People of Colonial Spanish Louisiana
Politicians from New Orleans
Members of the Territory of Orleans Legislature
United States senators from Louisiana
National Republican Party United States senators
Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress
Louisiana Democratic-Republicans
Louisiana National Republicans
American slave owners
United States senators who owned slaves