Background
He was born and grew up in Alverstraumen, today in Lindås municipality.
He was born and grew up in Alverstraumen, today in Lindås municipality.
He graduated from the University of Oslo as candidate.jur.
In 1831. In 1828 he had been chairman in the Det Norske Studentersamfund for half a year. Fougstad was a co-editor of their newspaper Den Constitutionelle from 1836 to 1837. He authored the publications Det norske Storthing i 1833, Repertorium for Oplysninger og Undersøgelser vedkommende viktige Gjenstande for ottende ordentlige Storthings Virksomhed with three volumes in 1835 and 1836 (with Frederik Stang) and Det norske Storthing i 1836.
From 1845 to 1850 he worked as chief of police in Christiania, the capital of Norway.
Fougstad was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1848, representing the constituency Christiania og Lillehammer. From 1850 to 1868 he served as burgomaster of Christiania.
In 1901 a street in Oslo, Fougstads gate, was named after him.
He was a member of the social circle Intelligenspartiet, whose most famous members were Anton Martin Schweigaard, Frederik Stang and Johan Sebastian Welhaven. Most of the members of Intelligenspartiet held some public office (embete). Fougstad worked as a civil servant in the Ministry of Finance from 1831 to 1845.
As a politician he was a member of Christiania city council from 1842 to 1850, serving as mayor from 1843 to 1845.