Career
Deputy of nobility for the bailliage d"Amont in the Estates General of 1789 that became the National Constituent Assembly, Jean-Xavier Bureau de Pusy was three times named president of the National Constituent Assembly:
from 2 to 24 February 1790;
from 11 to 24 September 1790;
from 24 May to 5 June 1791. He contributed actively to the division of France into 83 departments, in 1790, and with the metric system. In 1790, he corresponded with Alexander Hamilton.
On 1 January 1771 he entered the School of Engineering at Mézières as a second lieutenant.
He was a military engineer at the Fort de Joux in 1786, in 1789 he was captain with the Royal corps of Engineers. On January 1, 1792, Louis XVI gave him the Cross of Saint Louis.
He, Lafayette, and some other officers were taken prisoner by the Austrians near Rochefort when de Pusy asked for rights of transit through Austrian territory on behalf of a group of French officers. This was initially granted, as it had been for others fleeing France, but was revoked when the famous Lafayette was recognized.
He was imprisoned by the Austrians at the fortress of Olmütz in 1792.
He was released in 1797, under the terms of the treaty of Campo-Formio (18 October 1797). He the then went to Hamburg. From there he traveled to the United States, where he received a warm welcome as Lafayette companion in misfortune.
In 1799, he corresponded with Thomas Jefferson.
On 11 Brumaire X (2 November 1801), the First Consul appointed him the prefect of Allier, and then, on 11 Thermidor X (30 July 1802), that of the Rhône. lieutenant showed a very conciliatory spirit, and showed himself able administrator.
He was appointed prefect of Gênes (Genoa) on 15 Messidor year XIII (4 July 1805). He had to suppress a riot of Parma, and was able to without shedding a drop of blood.
He caught an illness that he died from on this exposition.
He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Bureau de Pusy de Portuguese-sur-Saône, conseiller correcteur of the Chambre des comptes of Franche-Comté, and grandson of Pierre-François Choullat. He was the son-in-law of Pierre Poivre. His mother-in-law, Françoise Robin, married Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours.
