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 anti-immigrant American Party. During his term, Louisiana seceded from the Union, but Bouligny remained in Washington and refused to resign. He was the only member of Congress from Louisiana to not resign or vacate his seat after the state seceded. Biography Bouligny, who went by his middle name Edward, was born in New Orleans. He was son of Louisiana state Representative Louis Bouligny and Elizabeth Virginie D'Hauterive. His uncle, Charles Dominique Joseph Bouligny, had served one term as U.S. Senator from Louisiana in the 1820s and his grandfather, Francisco Bouligny, was a high-ranking colonial official and military governor of Spanish Louisiana in the late 18th century. Bouligny attended public schools in New Orleans before studying law and being admitted to the bar. In 1852, he was appointed "assistant-appraiser of merchandize" for the U.S. Custom House in New Orleans by President Millard Fillmore. Bouligny became involved with Know Nothing politics in the 1850s and by 1855 was a party secretary in the state. While the national American Party was firmly pro-Protestant, the Know Nothings found strong support in Louisiana, including in largely Catholic New Orleans. In contrast to the national party, the Louisiana American Party refused to adopt a religious test for membership, making it welcoming to pro-slavery, anti-immigrant former Whigs, including Catholic Creoles like Bouligny. Bouligny was elected recorder for the Fourth Municipal District of New Orleans in 1856, making him responsible for trying and sentencing cases involving public nuisances and petty crimes. The Fourth District was incorporated into New Orleans in 1852; prior to then it was Lafayette City, Jefferson Parish, and Bouligny's older brother, Francis, had served as its mayor.