Hagen studied
jurisprudence at Königsberg and then, in 1843, entered into public service in Königsberg. In 1854 he became
"city treasurer" (Stadtkämmerer) for
Berlin and a salaried
councillor, positions he retained, following re-election in 1866, till 1871. After the bank was dissolved he returned to civic duties, and in 1876 became a
Berlin alderman. In Königsberg he was elected a local administrator (
Landrat) in 1856, and during the 1860s he was three times elected Lord Mayor of Königsberg. However, the government in Berlin refused to confirm the election results and he was accordingly prevented from taking up the offices. Between 1862 and 1876 he sat as a member of the
Prussian House of Representatives (Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) The motion gained support from members the larger Liberal and Catholic parties, and was passed by the
assembly.
The king was enraged and threatened to abdicate. The finance minister agreed with the sense of the Hagen Resolution, but resigned because he correctly concluded that the government had lost the confidence of the king. Leading
"Old-style Liberal" ministers followed von Patow's example and the government collapsed. The king appointed new ministers who were closer politically to his own conservative preferences, but who were unable to command a majority in the assembly. The crisis escalated till September 1862 when the king appointed
Otto von Bismarck to head the government. Bismarck accepted the appointment only on condition that he was also appointed to the position of
Foreign Minister. Despite the king's misgivings, which were shared by many in the political establishment, Bismarck proved a formidable political fixer, while Adolf Hagen has gone down in history as the man whose plenary resolution paved the way for the
Prussian Constitutional Crisis and the Bismarck era. Between 1867 and 1877 Hagen was also a member of the
German Reichstag. After that he retired from politics. ==Personal life==