Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
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Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (or Lafayette) (September 6, 1757–May 20, 1834) was a French aristocrat and military officer. La Fayette is considered a national hero in both France and the United States for his participation in the American and French revolutions. In 2002, he was posthumously made an Honorary Citizen of the United States; there are only six Honorary Citizens.
La Fayette served in the American War of Independence both as a general and as a diplomat, serving entirely without pay in both roles. He was a key figure in the early phases of the French Revolution, serving in the Estates General and the subsequent National Constituent Assembly. He was a leading figure among the Feuillants, who tried and failed to turn France into a constitutional monarchy, and commander of the French National Guard. Widely considered responsible for the "Massacre of the Champ de Mars", he subsequently lost his leading role in the Revolution. On August 19, 1792, after the Jacobin party seized control of Paris and the National Assembly and ordered the arrest of Lafayette, he fled France and was arrested by the Austrian army in Belgium. Thereafter, he spent five years in various Austrian and Prussian prisons, eventually being released in 1797, at the behest of Napoleon Bonaparte. He continued to be active in French and European politics until his death in 1834.
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[edit] Name and family
His full name is seldom used in the United States, where he is usually known simply as "the Marquis de Lafayette". Note that La Fayette may be written as one word or as two; one word is more typical in English usage, while the two-word form is preferred in contemporary French. Many places in the United States are named Lafayette, Fayette, or Fayetteville in his honor.
He was the father of Georges Washington Motier de La Fayette (1779–1849) and grandfather of Oscar Thomas Gilbert Motier de Lafayette (1815–1881).[1]
[edit] Early life
La Fayette was born at the Château de Chavaniac, near Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, in the Auvergne region of France. He belonged to the cadet branch of the La Fayette family, which had received its title ("La Fayette") from an estate in Aix that belonged to the Motier family in the 13th century. His father was killed at the Battle of Minden in 1759, and his mother and grandfather died in 1770, and thus at the age of 13, he was left an orphan with a princely fortune. He married at 16 to Marie-Adrienne-Françoise de Noailles, daughter of Jean-Paul-François, 5th duc de Noailles, from one of the most influential families in the kingdom. La Fayette chose to follow the career of his father and grandfather to enter the Guards. La Fayette was educated at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
[edit] Army life
La Fayette entered the French army on April 9, 1771, at the age of 14. At 19, he was a captain of dragoons when the British colonies in America proclaimed their independence. He later wrote in his memoirs, "my heart was enrolled in it." The comte de Broglie, whom he consulted, tried to discourage his zeal for the cause of liberty. Finding him resolute however, he presented the young enthusiast to Johann Kalb, who was also seeking service in America, and through Silas Deane, an American agent in Paris, an arrangement was made, on December 7, 1776 by which La Fayette could enter the American service as a major general. At this moment, the news arrived of grave disasters to the American cause. La Fayette's friends again advised him to give up. Even the American envoys, Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who had joined Deane in France, withheld further encouragement and the king himself forbade his leaving. At the insistence of the British ambassador at Versailles, orders were issued to seize the ship La Fayette was fitting out at Bordeaux and La Fayette himself was arrested. He escaped from custody disguised as a courier[citation needed], and before a second lettre de cachet could reach him, he was afloat with eleven chosen companions. Though two British ships were sent in pursuit, he landed safely near Charleston, South Carolina on June 13, 1777 after a tedious voyage of nearly two months, and hastened to Philadelphia, then the seat of government of the colonies.
[edit] American Revolution
At age 19, with the little English he had been able to pick up on his voyage, he presented himself to the Continental Congress with Deane's authority to demand a commission of the highest rank after the commander-in-chief.
One theory holds that Deane's recommendations of Frenchmen for high ranks in the American Continental Army were so numerous, that it was impossible for Congress to approve all of them without injustice to American officers who had become entitled by their service to promotion. This theory stresses that La Fayette's offer to serve as unpaid volunteer was so different from the terms made by other prominent foreigners, that Congress had little problem commissioning La Fayette as a major general in the Continental army.
Another theory holds that Congress only gave purely honorary military ranks to foreigners and that the question of giving the foreigners an actual command were left entirely to the discretion of American officers (for example, in La Fayette's case the question of giving him a command was left entirely to the discretion of General George Washington). This theory stresses that the honorary titles given to foreigners carried so little weight that Congress had little problem commissioning La Fayette as an honorary major-general under the supervision of Washington.
Regardless, the fact remains that Congress wanted to form an alliance with France against Britain. La Fayette was a member of the most influential families of France. In addition, La Fayette had made substantial sacrifices to enable him to offer his services to the American cause, and La Fayette offered his services as an unpaid volunteer. Thus, Congress passed a resolution, on July 31, 1777, "that his services be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family, and connections, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States." The next day, La Fayette met George Washington, who became his lifelong friend. They became so close, in fact, that the Marquis named his son Georges Washington-Lafayette, and asked General Washington to be his son's godfather, which he accepted. As a member of Washington's inner circle, La Fayette also became very close friends with young Alexander Hamilton, Washington's chief aide-de-camp.
La Fayette's first battle was Brandywine on September 11, 1777, where he fought courageously, and received a wound to the leg. Shortly afterwards, he secured what he most desired, the command of a division — the immediate result of a communication from Washington to Congress of November 1, 1777, in which he said: "The Marquis de La Fayette is extremely solicitous of having a command equal to his rank. I do not know in what light Congress will view the matter, but it appears to me, from a consideration of his illustrious and, important connections, the attachment which he has manifested for our cause, and the consequences which his return in disgust might produce, that it will be advisable to gratify his wishes, and the more so as several gentlemen from France who came over under some assurances have gone back disappointed in their expectations. His conduct with respect to them stands in a favourable point of view—having interested himself to remove their uneasiness and urged the impropriety of their making any unfavourable representations upon their arrival at home. Besides, he is sensible, discreet in his manners, has made great proficiency in our language, and from the disposition he discovered at the battle of Brandywine possesses a large share of bravery and military ardour."
In the first months of 1778, La Fayette commanded troops detailed for the projected expedition against Canada. His retreat from Barren Hill (May 28, 1778) was commended as masterly, and he fought at the Battle of Monmouth (June 28) and received from Congress a formal recognition of his services in the Rhode Island expedition (August 1778).
The treaties of commerce and defensive alliance signed by the United States and France on February 6, 1778, were promptly followed by a declaration of war by Great Britain against the latter, and La Fayette asked leave to revisit France and to consult his king, Louis XVI, as to the further direction of his services.
La Fayette left for France on January 11, 1779. In France, La Fayette was received with great enthusiasm, and was made a colonel in the French cavalry. On March 4, 1779, Franklin, who was serving as an American diplomat in France, wrote to the president of Congress: "The marquis de La Fayette is infinitely esteemed and beloved here, and I am persuaded he will do everything in his power to merit a continuance of the same affection from America."
After about six months, La Fayette, returned to America via the frigate Hermione, a reconstruction of which has been located in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime since 1997. His return was the occasion of a complimentary resolution of Congress. From April until October 1781, he was charged with the defense of Virginia, in which Washington gave him the credit of doing all that was possible with the forces at his disposal; and he showed his zeal by borrowing money on his own account to provide his soldiers with necessaries. The siege of Yorktown, in which La Fayette bore an honorable if not a distinguished part, was the last of the war, and terminated his military career in the United States.
[edit] Post Revolution
La Fayette returned to France and was welcomed as a hero. He was promoted (1781) to the rank of maréchal de camp (brigadier general) in the French army, and he received every token of regard from his sovereign and his countrymen. In Europe, La Fayette became occupied in the preparations for a combined French and Spanish expedition against some of the British West India Islands, of which he had been appointed chief of staff, and a formidable fleet assembled at Cádiz, but the armistice signed on January 20, 1783 between the belligerents put a stop to the expedition. La Fayette visited the United States again in 1784. He visited New York City from 1784-08-04 through 1784-08-08, and again from 1784-09-11 when he was hosted by officers of the Continental Army at Capes Tavern, and - during receptions by municipal officials and Mayor James Duane on the following day - he was presented with the "Freedom of the City" in a golden box. He left New York again on 1784-09-15, and returned three months later. He departed New York City and the United States on 1784-12-21, and was escorted to his frigate by a Select Committee, honored by a parade and artillery salute, and presented witha farewell ode. Lafayette returned to the USA one last time during 1824, and arrived again in New York City on 1824-08-14 for a six-day visit that included a "triumphal procession" to City Hall, a reception by the Mayor, and a State Banquet on 1824-08-16. He returned to New York City on 1824-09-05]], and stayed until 1824-09-14. This time, he attended a performance of Lafayette: or The Hero of Olmutz, at the Park Theater, in his honor on 1824-09-09. The Lafayette Museum at 11 Park Street[1] was illuminated[2] on 1824-09-13, and this was followed the next night by a "grand Fete" and reception at Castle Garden, which drew six thousand guests. Lafayette visited New York City again September 20-24, 1824, and made his final visit to the city from 1825-07-03 through 1825-07-14. On July 4th, an Independence Day reception was held in his honor at City Hall, which was followed by performances at the Park Theater, and Castle Garden. He addressed one audience during the course of the day, and commented that he was greatly impressed by the "prodigious progress" of the city. Samuel F.B. Morse was commissioned to paint a full length portrait of Lafayette, which was was hung in the City Hall.[3]
[edit] Views on slavery
Washington and Lafayette were both slaveowners who came to view slavery with repugnance.[citation needed] Lafayette urged Washington to free his slaves as an example to others—Washington was held in such high regard after the revolution that there was reason to hope that if he freed his slaves, others would follow his example. Lafayette purchased an estate in French Guiana and settled his own slaves there, and he offered a place for Washington's slaves, writing "I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America if I could have conceived thereby that I was founding a land of slavery." Nevertheless, Washington did not free his own slaves in his lifetime. It must be understood, however, that most of the slaves on Washington's estate were actually acquired from his wife's estate and he did not have the right to free her slaves. Documentation and letters in his Mount Vernon residence do show that he wished for all his slaves to be freed after his death, and Washington's last will and testament provided accordingly. Martha Washington, however, freed her slaves late in her own lifetime.
[edit] French Revolution
La Fayette did not appear again prominently in public life until 1787, though he did good service to the French Protestants, and became actively interested in plans to abolish slavery. In 1787, he took his seat in the Assembly of Notables. He demanded, and he alone signed the demand, that the king convoke the Estates-General, thus becoming a leader in the French Revolution. He showed liberal tendencies both in that assembly and after its dispersal, and, in 1788, was deprived, in consequence, of his active command. In 1789, La Fayette was elected to the Estates-General, and took a prominent part in its proceedings. He was chosen vice-president of the National Assembly, and on 11 July 1789 proposed a declaration of rights, modelled on Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in 1776.
On July 15, the second day of the new regime, La Fayette was chosen by acclamation colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris. He also proposed the combination of the colours of Paris, red and blue, and the royal white, into the famous tricolour cockade of modern France (July 17). For the succeeding three years, until the end of the constitutional monarchy in 1792, he played a significant role in the course of the Revolution. He rescued the queen from the hands of the populace in October 1789, saved many humbler victims who had been condemned to death, and he risked his life in many unsuccessful attempts to rescue others. Before this, disgusted with mob injustices and atrocities which he was powerless to prevent, he had resigned his commission; but so impossible was it to replace him that he was induced to resume it.
In the Constituent Assembly he pleaded for religious tolerance, popular representation, the establishment of trial by jury, the gradual emancipation of slaves, freedom of the press, the abolition of arbitrary imprisonment and of titles of nobility, and the suppression of privileged orders. Pursuing these goals he drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which was adopted by the Assembly. In February 1790, he refused the supreme command of the National Guard of the kingdom.
Lafayette and other constitutional monarchists who supported the Revolution in its early years founded the "Society of 1789", which afterwards became the Feuillants Club, taking a position between Royalist supporters of absolute monarchy and liberalist groups such as the Jacobins and Cordeliers. Lafayette took a prominent part in the celebration of July 14, 1790, the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. After suppressing a riot in April 1791 he again resigned his commission, and was again compelled to retain it. Louis XVI's flight to Varennes undermined the position of the constitutional monarchists, especially Lafayette himself who, as Commander of the National Guard, had had the responsibility to keep the King secure. Shortly after, on July 17, 1791, a large crowd gathered at the Champ de Mars to sign a petition calling for the abolition of the monarchy. Jean-Sylvain Bailly, the Mayor of Paris, ordered the crowd to disperse, and when they did not and began to get rowdy (two people had their throats cut), Lafayette ordered the National Guard to open fire. About 50 people were killed in what became known as the "Massacre of the Champ de Mars", which decisively marked the end of the alliance between constitutional monarchists and Jacobins. On the occasion of the proclamation of the constitution (September 18, 1791), feeling that his task was done, he tried to retire into private life. This did not prevent his friends from proposing him for the mayoralty of Paris in opposition to Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve.
When, in December 1791, three armies were formed on the eastern frontier to attack Austria, La Fayette was placed in command of one of them. But events moved faster than La Fayette's moderate and humane republicanism, and seeing that the lives of the king and queen were each day more and more in danger, he definitely opposed himself to the further advance of the Jacobin party, intending eventually to use his army for the restoration of a limited monarchy. On August 19, 1792, the Assembly declared him a traitor. He was compelled to take refuge in the neutral territory of Liège, whence as one of the prime movers in the Revolution he was taken and held as a prisoner of state for five years, first in Prussian and afterwards in Austrian prisons (1794–1797 in Olomouc), in spite of the intercession of the United States and the pleadings of his wife. Napoleon, however, though he had a low opinion of his capacities, stipulated in the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) that La Fayette be released. He was not allowed to return to France by the Directory. He returned in 1799; in 1802 he voted against the life consulate of Napoleon, and in 1804, against the imperial title.
He lived in retirement during the First Empire, but returned to public affairs under the First Restoration and took some part in the political events of the Hundred Days. From 1818 to 1824, he was deputy for the Sarthe, speaking and voting always on the Liberal side, and even becoming a carbonaro.
He then revisited America between July 1824 and September 1825, attending the inaugural banquet of the University of Virginia, at Jefferson's invitation, and visiting St. Louis, Missouri where Lafayette Square Park was subsequently named in his honor. As a living symbol of a revolution that was then approaching its fiftieth anniversary, he was overwhelmed with popular acclaim and voted the sum of $200,000 and a township of land. The visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the U.S., in 1824–25, was in every sense a triumphal procession. The 2nd Battalion, 11th New York Artillery, was one of many militia commands who turned out in welcome. This unit decided to adopt the title "National Guard", in honor of Lafayette's celebrated Garde Nationale de Paris. The Battalion, later the 7th Regiment, was prominent in the line of march on the occasion of Lafayette's final passage through New York en route home to France. Taking note of the troops named for his old command, Lafayette alighted from his carriage, walked down the line, clasping each officer by the hand as he passed. "National Guard" was destined to become the name of the U.S. militia.
From 1825 to his death, he sat in the Chamber of Deputies for Meaux. During the Revolution of 1830, he again took command of the National Guard and pursued the same line of conduct, with equal want of success, as in the first revolution. In 1834, he made his last speech—on behalf of Polish political refugees. He died in Paris on May 20, 1834 and was buried in the Cimetière de Picpus. In 1876, a monument was erected to him in New York City, and in 1883 another was erected at Le Puy.
[edit] Legacy
The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) said of Lafayette, "Few men have owed more of their success and usefulness to their family rank than La Fayette, and still fewer have abused it less. He never achieved distinction in the field, and his political career proved him to be incapable of ruling a great national movement; but he had strong convictions which always impelled him to study the interests of humanity, and a pertinacity in maintaining them, which, in all the strange vicissitudes of his eventful life, secured him a very unusual measure of public respect. No citizen of a foreign country has ever had so many and such warm admirers in America, nor does any statesman in France appear to have ever possessed uninterruptedly for so many years so large a measure of popular influence and respect. He had what Jefferson called a 'canine appetite' for popularity and fame, but in him the appetite only seemed to make him more anxious to merit the fame which he enjoyed. He was brave to rashness; and he never shrank from danger or responsibility if he saw the way open to spare life or suffering, to protect the dead, to sustain the law and preserve order."
The admiration Americans feel for him is reflected in the many places named Lafayette, Fayette, and Fayetteville. Lafayette College was chartered in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1826. Three U.S. naval vessels have been named in his honor, the most recent being the nuclear Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine USS Lafayette (SSBN-616) which served until 1991. Despite considerable anti-French sentiment in the United States at the time, Congress granted him honorary citizenship on August 6, 2002. During World War II, the U.S. flag was draped on his grave, even though it was in Nazi-occupied territory. Portraits of Washington and Lafayette hang to this day in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1958 former U.S. Representative Hamilton Fish III, a World War I veteran, founded the Order of Lafayette, a hereditary and patriotic organization to commemorate the legacy of the Marquis de La Fayette and the service of Americans defending France during World War I and World War II. Membership in the Order is based on service in either war or descent from a veteran of those wars.
[edit] World War I
General John Pershing is said to have declared upon his arrival in France during the First World War, "Lafayette, we are here!" ("Lafayette, nous voilà!"), suggesting that the United States was repaying its debt for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. However, this attribution is apocryphal, and was actually said by Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Stanton at the tomb of La Fayette, in the cemetery Picpus in Paris, July 4, 1917.[citation needed]
Before the U.S. entered the war, a squadron of American fighter pilots was formed in Luxeuil, France. Initially named the Escadrille Americaine, it was later renamed Escadrille Lafayette to address German complaints about American involvement.
[edit] La Fayette in the media
- In 1961, La Fayette, a French-Italian movie about La Fayette's early years, was released in Europe, starring French television actor Michel Le Royer in the title role. It boasted numerous guest-stars, including Orson Welles as Benjamin Franklin, Jack Hawkins and Vittorio De Sica.
- In The Bastard, a 1978 TV movie adaptation of the first book of John Jakes' The Kent Family Chronicles, Lafayette is played by actor Ike Eisenmann.
- In the 1989 two-part movie La Révolution française, the part of La Fayette was played by Sam Neill.
- In the 1997 PBS mini-series Liberty! The American Revolution, the voice of La Fayette was provided by Sebastian Roché.
- In PBS's 2002–2003 animated TV series Liberty's Kids, the Marquis de Lafayette was played by Ben Beck.
- While not identified by name, a portrait of La Fayette appeared in the July 17, 2006 episode of the NBC reality series Treasure Hunters and a reproduction of his death mask contained one of the seven "artifacts" needed to find the treasure. He was identified in the following episode and teams visited the Paul Wayland Bartlett La Fayette statue in Paris.
- In Orson Scott Card's novel Red Prophet, an alternative universe contains its own Gilbert de La Fayette.
- In The Young Rebels, an American television series (1970–1971) based on the fictionalized adventures of a young group of rebel patriots, French actor Philippe Forquet portrayed General Lafayette.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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- ^ So in the original, but more likely Park Place.
- ^ Illumination at the time refered to a fireworks show performed to lend honor to the structure being illuminated.
- ^ Kenneth T. Jackson:The Encyclopedia of New York City: The New York Historical Society; Yale University Press; 1995. P. 650.
[edit] External links
- Public Law 107-209(TXT)(PDF), conferring honorary citizenship of the United States posthumously on the Marquis de La Fayette.
- La Fayette in Georgia (entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia)
- Association of the Order of La Fayette, a Franco-American friendship association.
- Order of Lafayette, an American hereditary order that promotes commemoration of Americans who fought in France and Franco-American friendship.
- Color photo of Lafayette grave, 1917
- Works by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette at Project Gutenberg
- American Friends Of LaFayette
- Marquis De LaFayette Appleton's Biography edited by Stanley L. Klos
Categories: NPOV disputes | Wikipedia articles needing style editing | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica | French generals | Continental Army generals | French people of the American Revolution | French nobility | Marquesses | Natives of Auvergne | People of the French Revolution | Occitan people | 1757 births | 1834 deaths
