Pierre Soulé (1801-1870), French-born American politician, lawyer, and diplomat, was active in Louisiana politics and pre-Civil War diplomacy.

Pierre Soulé was born at Castillon-en-Couserans on Aug. 31, 1801. Before completing religious training at the Jesuit Collège de l'Esquille at Toulouse, Soulé left and became an anti-Bourbon conspirator. He was exiled to Navarre until pardoned in 1818. Soulé returned to Bordeaux, completed college, and moved to Paris to study law, completing this in 1823. For his activities in the republican movement against Charles X and as publisher of Le Nain jaune, Soulé was arrested in April 1825, convicted, and imprisoned. He escaped to England and emigrated to Haiti in 1825. He finally settled in New Orleans.

Soulé became an active criminal lawyer, orator, financier, and Democratic politician. In 1846 he was elected to the Louisiana Legislature; at the end of the year he went to the U.S...