Michel Vidal

Michel Vidal ( born October 1, 1824 in Carcassonne, France, † unknown ) was an American politician of French origin. Between 1868 and 1870 he represented the state of Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Michel Vidal first attended school in his native France. Later he emigrated to the then independent Republic of Texas. He then moved to Louisiana on. There he dealt with literary and scientific matters. In the following years, Vidal was working as a journalist. He worked for several American, French and Canadian newspapers. In 1867 he moved to Opelousas, Louisiana. There he continued his journalistic activities. After the Civil War he was appointed by General Philip Sheridan to the registrar of the city of New Orleans.

Politically, Vidal joined at that time to the Republican Party. During 1867 and 1868 he was a delegate at meetings to revise the State Constitution of Louisiana. After the resumption of the State of Louisiana into the Union, he was a candidate of his party in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he took up his new mandate on 18 July 1868. Until March 3, 1869 he ended the current legislative session in Congress. On 4 March 1869 he was appointed to a second term. Because of an ongoing contested elections he retained his seat only until May 1870 after which it fell to Joseph P. Newsham. The official end of this legislature was 3 März, 1871.

In 1868, Vidal was one of the American negotiators with the State of Peru. It was about mutual claims of citizens of both countries. In 1870, Vidal was appointed in Tripoli by President Ulysses S. Grant to the American Consul. This post he held until October 12, 1876 After that trace of him. ; both his date of death as well as his place of death are unknown.