Dominique Bouligny was an American legislator. He is most known as a politician who attained considerable political prominence in Louisiana in the first three decades of the nineteenth century.
Background
Dominique Bouligny was born around 1771 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was was the son of Francisco Bouligny and Marie Louise le Senechal d'Auverville. The family was of Italian origin and was founded in Milan in the fourteenth century by Mateo Atendolo, the first count of Bolognini. The family name was changed in its spelling from Bolognini to Bouligny in the early seventeenth century when a member of the family, then in the service of the Spanish king, was captured by the French and taken to Marseilles.
In the early eighteenth century, Joseph Bouligny, the progenitor of the Louisiana Bouligny family, settled in Alicante, Spain. His son, Francisco, the father of Dominique, was born there in 1736 and came to Louisiana in 1769 with O'Reilly, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana.
Career
Dominique Bouligny was elected to the first legislature of the Territory of Orleans in 1805 as one of the ten representatives of the parish of Orleans.
In 1813, Bouligny was one of a number of New Orleans citizens who subscribed $10, 000 to secure the safety of the state during the war that was then going on between the United States and England.
In 1814, he was chosen by the people of New Orleans as one of a committee of nine to counteract the effects of an appeal which an English army officer by the name of Colonel Nicholls had issued from Pensacola, calling upon the people of Louisiana who were of Spanish, French, Italian, and British descent to rebel against the "usurpation" of the Americans in their country. The committee issued a stirring address to the people, urging them to remain loyal to the American government.
Bouligny was elected to the United States Senate in 1824 to succeed Henry Johnson who had been elected governor of Louisiana, and he served in that body until 1829.
Achievements
One of the Dominique Bouligny's considerable achievements was that he was one of the ten representatives of the parish of Orleans, who was elected to the first legislature of the Territory of Orleans in 1805.
He also became one of a number of New Orleans citizens in 1813 who subscribed $10, 000 to secure the safety of the state during the war that was then going on between the United States and England.
But his majoe achievement was in his election to the United States Senate in 1824 where he served in that body until 1829.
Connections
Bouligny married Arthemise Le Blanc, and on his death in New Orleans, he left six sons and six daughters. Many of his descendants are still living in New Orleans.
