Hugo Wesendonck studied after his Abitur at Gymnasium in Elberfeld 1834-1837 Law at the University of Bonn, where he was one of the founders of the Corps Saxonia.
After the outbreak of the March Revolution in 1848, Wesendonck was a co-founder of the Association for Democratic Monarchy in Düsseldorf and took part in the pre-parliament.
From 18 May 1848 until the end of the rump parliament on 18 June 1849, Wesendonck was a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly for the Düsseldorf constituency.
There he was a member of the left parliamentary groups Deutscher Hof and Donnersberg as well as secretary of the Central March Association.
In the United States, Wesendonck began with the help of his older brother Otto, who emigrated with his wife to Zurich,[3] a trading business with manufactured goods based in Philadelphia.