Pierre Soulé

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Pierre Soule

Pierre Soulé (August 31, 1801–March 26, 1870) was a U.S. politician and diplomat during the mid-19th century. He is best known for his role in writing the Ostend Manifesto, which was written in 1854 as part of an attempt to annex Cuba to the United States.

Soulé was born in Castillon-en-Couserans, a village near Bordeaux, France. He was exiled from France for revolutionary activities, allowed to return, then imprisoned several years later for his continued opposition to the government. In 1825 he escaped prison, and fled first to the United Kingdom, then to Haiti, and finally to the United States, where he settled down in New Orleans and became a lawyer.

In 1847, Soulé sat briefly in the United States Senate as a Democrat. He returned to the Senate from 1849 to 1853. He then resigned to take an appointment as U.S. ambassador to Spain, a post he held until 1855.

Soulé opposed Southern secession before the American Civil War, but supported his state, Louisiana, after the war began. He was captured by Federal troops and imprisoned as a Confederate sympathizer, but was able to escape back to Confederate territory. After the war ended in 1865, he fled to Havana to escape further imprisonment.

Eventually, Soulé was allowed by the federal government to return to U.S. soil, and he died in New Orleans.