Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette Totally Explained

Everything about Gilbert Du Motier Marquis De La Fayette totally explained

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de la Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), commonly known in English as Marquis de Lafayette, was a French military officer and aristocrat who participated in both the American and French revolutions. He permanently renounced the nobility and the title "Marquis" before the French National Assembly on 19 June 1790. Lafayette served in the American Revolutionary War both as a general and as a diplomat, serving entirely without pay in both roles. Later, he was to prove 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 to turn France into a constitutional monarchy, and commander of the French National Guard. Accused by Jean-Paul Marat of responsibility for the "Massacre of the Champ de Mars" (before which Lafayette was nearly assassinated), he subsequently was forced out of a leading role in the Revolution by Jacobin-Terror anarchists. The name Lafayette may be written as one word or as two; one word is more typical in American usage and was Lafayette's preference (appearing on his birth certificate, all signatures to his letters and his grave stone) while the two-word form is preferred in contemporary British and French sources. Many places in the United States are named Lafayette, Fayette, or Fayetteville in his honor.
He was the father of one son and three daughters, of whom two survived.
Children:

Henriette (1775-1775)
George Washington Lafayette (1779–1849), whose godfather was Lafayette's close friend George Washington; like his father, George permanently disavowed the title, who was matrilineal ancestress (great-great-grandmother) of Belgium's Queen Paola.

Virginie (1782-1849), who married Louis de Lasteyrie du Saillant (1781-1826) (who permanently disavowed the aristocratic "Marquis" title Although pursued by two British ships, he landed safely on North Island near Georgetown, South Carolina, on 13 June 1777 after a voyage of nearly two months.

American Revolution

Lafayette's introduction to America came at a dinner on 8 August 1775, when he met the Duke of Gloucester (brother of George III) who told him about the conflict in the colonies. With thoughts of the glory and excitement, Lafayette made plans to travel to America. He traveled with Baron Johan de Kalb, as both men wanted to go to America. He also met General Washington and a friendship developed between the two men that lasted as long as Washington lived. In addition to his military service, he contributed $200,000 of his own money to support the Revolution. He also helped persuade France to send more soldiers and supplies to the Americans.
   Lafayette offered his services to the Americans as an unpaid volunteer. He presented himself to the Continental Congress with Deane's authority to request a commission of the highest rank after the commander-in-chief.
   Congress then passed a resolution, on 31 July 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, Lafayette met George Washington, who became his lifelong friend. As a member of Washington's inner circle, Lafayette also became very close friends with young Alexander Hamilton, Washington's chief aide-de-camp.
   Lafayette's first battle was Brandywine on 11 September 1777, where he was wounded in the leg. Shortly afterwards, he secured the command of a division — the immediate result of a communication from Washington to Congress of 1 November 1777, in which he said: "The Marquis de Lafayette is extremely solicitous of having a command equal to his rank. I don't 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's manifested for our cause, and the consequences which his return in disgust might produce, that it'll 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's 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, Lafayette commanded troops detailed for the projected expedition against Canada. After that plan was aborted, Lafayette participated in the campaign in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where he was commended for his retreat from Barren Hill (28 May 1778), and fought at the Battle of Monmouth (28 June). He received from Congress a formal recognition of his services in the Rhode Island expedition (August 1778).
   Meanwhile, the signing of a formal Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France on 6 February 1778, prompted Great Britain to declare war against France. Lafayette asked leave to return to France to consult Louis XVI to further aid the Americans.
   Lafayette left for France on 11 January 1779, where he was promoted from captain to "mestre de camp" in the French cavalry (approximately equal to colonel). After about six months of plotting, diverting (with John Paul Jones) and distracting the British from France, he returned to America, again serving as major-general at ~21 years old. From April until October 1781, he was charged with the defense of Virginia, where he showed his zeal by borrowing money on his own account to provide his soldiers with necessaries. Washington commended him for doing all that was possible with the forces at his disposal. In the siege of Yorktown, Lafayette bore an honorable if not a distinguished part.
   At the end of 1781, Lafayette returned to France, where he was welcomed as a hero and promoted to the rank of maréchal de camp (brigadier general) in the French army. Lafayette then helped prepare for a combined French and Spanish expedition against the British West India Islands, of which he was appointed chief-of-staff. The armistice signed on 20 January 1783 between the countries put a stop to the expedition.

Views on slavery

Though Lafayette formerly owned slaves, he freed them and was actively interested in the abolitionist cause. After the end of the American war, he worked to free slaves in the Caribbean where the slave trade was booming. He urged Washington to free his slaves as an example to others. Lafayette purchased an estate in French Guiana and, assisted by his wife, arranged for freedom and education of these former 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." Washington didn't free his own slaves in his lifetime, but a provision in his will stated that all of his slaves shall be freed upon the death of his wife Martha. Lafayette's attempt in that anti-slavery cause in French Guiana was interrupted by the Jacobin Terror in which both Lafayette and his wife were imprisoned and nearly executed.

French Revolution

Lafayette didn't appear again prominently in public life until 1787, when he took his seat in the Assembly of Notables. He was the one who demanded that the Estates-General be called at the Assembly of Notables, thus becoming a leader in the French Revolution. In 1788, he was deprived of his active command. In 1789, Lafayette was elected to the Estates-General as representative from Auvergne, and he took with him a document remarkably similar to that of the American Bill of Rights, which would be adopted that same year. When the Estates General convened on 5 May 1789 Lafayette was a member of the Second Estate, the Estate of the nobles. When King Louis XVI was confronted with difficulties of the Estates General, he closed the meeting room of the Third Estate, which rather than forcing a halt to their assembly, led them to meet in the Tennis Court outside. Lafayette was among the first group of nobles who joined the Third Estate. This new group would call themselves the National Assembly and claim that they were the governing body in France. Lafayette rose to power quickly within the National Assembly, for on July 11, 1789 he presented the document he'd brought with him, his Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens. and an anti-feudal, reformist like his brother-in-law Louis XVI. Very large subsidies were paid by the British Empire to Austria during this time. Several letters from Lafayette's wife state that the reason for Lafayette's prolonged imprisonment was the machinations of Pitt the Younger. Napoleon, however, was forced by the Directory (which was pro-Lafayette at that time), and stipulated in the preconditions of the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) that Lafayette be released. He wasn't allowed to return to France by Napoleon who increasingly seized more power. Lafayette, after his wife's pleading to Napoleon, returned in 1799. In 1802 he voted against the life consulate of Napoleon, and in 1804, against the imperial title.

Later years

He never remarried, and remained very devoted to his wife, who died in December 1807. She apparently had succumb from complications due to lead and laudanum, medical-treatment she received after suffing TB, chronic skin, and other diseases she contracted during three imprisonments. First in Auvergne, then Paris (during the height of the Terror when she was nearly guillotined), and later in a British-subsidized, Austrian Empire dungeon for the later 2 years with her husband. Adrienne found her way deep into Austrian territory, in disguise and using a false passport, and by this self-sacrifice, drawing world-wide attention (especially from the then, shortly, pro-Lafayette French Directory that forced Napoleon, reluctantly) and thereby saved her husband's life when all the other American and British-Whig-minority-opposition rescue attempts failed.
   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 Sarthe, speaking and voting always on the Liberal side, even sympathizing with the Carbonari.
   His last, invitational and triumphal visit to all 24 of the then United States of America (plus two territories-future states) was between July 1824 and September 1825. He arrived from France at Staten Island, N.Y., on August 15, 1824. Later in the trip, he received an honorary United States citizenship while attending the inaugural banquet of the University of Virginia, at Jefferson's invitation. He was voted, by the U.S. Congress, the sum of $200,000 and a township of land. On the recommendation of some friends, Lafayette chose a parcel of land that today makes up the northeast part of Tallahassee, Florida. Among other cities, he visited Fayetteville, North Carolina, the first city to have been named in his honor and St. Louis, Missouri where Lafayette Square Park was subsequently named in his honor. 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 before returning home to France on the frigate USS Brandywine that had 24 officers on board, as tributes, each representing his own home state, to which, all 24 of the United States were represented. Wherever he went he was honored by special ceremonies organized by American Masonic Lodges. Tradition has it that, with General Washington's sponsorship, Lafayette had been raised as a Master Mason in 1777 or 1778 shortly after his arrival in America. However, as Washington's letters show, by the end of the war, since some of the worst traitors like Benedict Arnold were masons, fraternal focus turned to the proven loyal in his Society of the Cincinnati, of which, one of the biggest Chapters was in France.
   In 1824, he was the guest of honor at the first commencement ceremony of the George Washington University. Also in that year, he visited the town of Lexington, Massachusetts, where the first battle of the American Revolution had occurred.
   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 as in the first revolution. In 1834, he made his last speech, on behalf of Polish political refugees, many of whom he hid in the attic of his modest country home, Château La Grange (48 km (30 m) miles east of Paris, near Rozy-en-Brie,) which had belonged to his wife's family. He was known to his country neighbors there for his extraordinary charity during times of famine and disease. He died in Paris on May 20, 1834 and was buried in the Cimetière de Picpus, under soil from brought back from Bunker Hill during his 1824 visit.

Legacy

United States government named in his honor Lafayette Park, immediately north of the White House in Washington, D.C. In 1826, Lafayette College was chartered in Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1873, Lafayette Square in was named after him. In 1876, a monument was erected to him in New York City, and in 1883 another was erected in Le Puy-en-Velay, near his birthplace. Many U.S. counties, cities, towns and townships bear such names as La Fayette, LaFayette, Lafayette, Fayette and Fayetteville in his honor, as does Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire. Three U.S. naval vessels have been named after him, the most recent being the nuclear Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine USS Lafayette (SSBN-616) which served until 1991.
   During World War II, the American 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. Membership in the Order is based on service in France or French territories in either World War I or World War II, or descent from a veteran of those wars. In France, a reconstruction of the frigate Hermione, in which Lafayette returned to America in 1779, has been located in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, since 1997.
   Even though George Washington had already adopted him, Congress granted him honorary citizenship twice, first in 1824 for himself and his descendants and then again on 6 August 2002.
   The Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) says 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'd 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 such a large 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."

Lafayette in the media

In 1961, La Fayette, a French-Italian movie about Lafayette'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 Lafayette was played by Sam Neill.

In the 1997 PBS mini-series Liberty! The American Revolution, the voice of Lafayette was provided by Sebastian Roché.

British stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard has a bit in his 1999 performance Dress to Kill in which he refers to "the debt of honor to General Lafayette".

In PBS's 2002–2003 animated TV series Liberty's Kids, Lafayette was played by Ben Beck. In the penultimate episode of the series, Lafayette returned to France to spread the ideas of liberty(and eventually take part in the French Revolution), taking one of Ben Franklin's apprentice.

While not identified by name, a portrait of Lafayette 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 Lafayette statue in Paris.

In Orson Scott Card's novel Red Prophet, an alternative universe contains its own Gilbert de Lafayette.

In The Young Rebels, an American television series (1970–1971) based on the fictionalized adventures of a group of young rebel patriots, French actor Philippe Forquet portrayed General Lafayette.

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