(Excerpt from A History of Louisiana, Vol. 4 of 4: The Ame...)
Excerpt from A History of Louisiana, Vol. 4 of 4: The American Domination, Part II, 1861-1903 Although Louisiana had withdrawn from the Union, she remained attached to the history of the United States. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Michael Hahn was born on November 24, 1830, at Klingenmunster in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and when a small child was brought to the United States by his widowed mother, Margaretha Decker Hahn, along with four other children. After a short stay in New York, they settled in New Orleans about 1840. The next year the mother died of yellow fever.
Young Michael attended the public schools of his adopted city, and after graduating from high school, entered the law office of Christian Roselius, a leading New Orleans lawyer, and at the same time attended lectures in the law department of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1851. While a student he made a living by conducting a real-estate agency and by writing for newspapers.
After completing his studies Michael Hahn immediately began the practice of his profession, combining with it the duties of a notary public. When barely twenty-two he was elected to the New Orleans school board, and soon became its president. Throughout the controversial fifties he was a bitter opponent of slavery, and in 1860-1861 he was a member of a committee which canvassed the state against secession. He omitted the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy in renewing his oath as notary, and when Farragut’s fleet arrived at New Orleans he hastened to pledge his allegiance to the United States government.
In December 1862 the two Louisiana congressional districts within the Union lines elected congressmen, and Hahn was chosen to represent the 2nd district, but, with the representative from the 1st district, he was not permitted to take his seat until February 1863.
In 1864 Hahn purchased the New Orleans Daily True Delta, which he edited for some time as a Republican newspaper - the first of two ventures in Republican journalism in New Orleans, for in 1867 he started the New Orleans Republican, which he conducted until 1871.
In the election of February 22, 1864, Hahn was chosen governor by the Free-State party, one of three groups participating in the election. He proceeded to carry out President Lincoln’s mild reconstruction policy. He resigned the governor’s office, March 4, 1865, having been elected to the United States Senate, but it seems he never pressed his claim to a senatorial seat because of his opposition to President Johnson’s reconstruction policy.
In 1871 Hahn gave up his New Orleans newspaper and retired to his sugar plantation in St. Charles Parish, where the following year he laid out the town of Hahnville. On February 15, 1872, he issued the first number of the St. Charles Herald, which he published until his death. He was chosen a representative to the state legislature, where he served for a time as speaker, and served also as district judge. In 1884 he was Republican nominee for Congress in the 2nd district of Louisiana, and, in a district usually Democratic, he was elected by 3, 000 majority. Not long after he had entered upon his new duties he was found dead at his lodging place in Washington.
(Excerpt from A History of Louisiana, Vol. 4 of 4: The Ame...)
In the days before the Civil War Georg Michael Decker Hahn was a Democrat, but independent in his political thinking. He was opposed to the Slidell wing of the party in Louisiana, opposed the nomination of Buchanan in 1856, and in 1860 supported Douglas for the presidency.
Hahn was a scholarly man of much ability and was recognized for his integrity and devotion to principle. Because of this he was able to retain the respect of the people although affiliated with a party which was unpopular in the state. During a New Orleans riot, in 1866, he received a gunshot wound which made him a cripple for the rest of his life.
Quotes from others about the person
“Of all the leading Republicans of Louisiana he was one of the least objectionable. ” - Congressman Blanchard of Louisiana
Michael Hahn never married.
