![]() |
Born in France and orphaned at a young age, Motier inherited the title of Marquis de La Fayette at twelve years old. He received an education at the prestigious Collège du Plessis before joining the military, where he served as Lieutenant to the Musketeers until the program was dismantled. He wed Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, receiving as dowry the command of a unit in the Noailles Regiment. During his company’s annual training, he learned of the battle going on in America, and he began to engage in lengthy debates concerning possible French involvement. In 1776 he met with an agent in Paris and arranged to enter American service as a major-general. He acquired a ship but was ordered to abandon the mission when British spies learned of his intentions. As suspected, his ship was captured by British soldiers, but Layfette managed to escape under the guise of a courtier, and he and eleven others arrived in South Carolina two months later. Lafayette served under George Washington during the war, and despite being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, he went on to fight in the Battle of Rhode Island and successfully blocked British troops heading south from New York.
After his return to France following the war’s successful conclusion, Lafayette was ordered to the Assembly of Notables to propose a solution to the country’s current financial crisis. He proposed a meeting of the long-disregarded Estates-General, an assembly that would eventually lead to the French Revolution, and during the meeting he drafted a Declaration of the Rights of Man. Lafayette was later appointed commander of the French National Guard in an attempt to combat violence that arose prior to the Revolution. During the Reign of Terror, his position made him a target for the Jacobins, and he attempted to escape to America, only to be captured by Austrians and held prisoner for several years. He returned to France after he was freed by Napoleon’s troops, and during the Hundred Days he served on the Chamber of Deputies. After Napoleon’s downfall, Lafayette was invited to the United States by James Monroe, and during his visit he traveled to all of the twenty-four existing states. Once back in France, he was offered the opportunity to become France’s dictator, a proposition that he refused. Instead, he supported Louis Philippe, the last true king of France. Lafayette passed away in 1834 and was buried under soil taken from Bunker Hill.
Born in France | |
Father died | |
Mother and grandfather died | |
Arranged to enter the American service as a major-general | |
Fought in American Revolutionary War | |
Returned to France | |
Named commander-in-chief of National Guard | |
Tried to flee to America but was captured | |
Freed from prison by Napoleon | |
Elected to the Champber of Deputies | |
Visited America | |
Declined an offer to becom French dictator | |
Died | |
Received Honorary U.S. Citizenship |
Boy and the Wolf in | Fifty Famous People by James Baldwin |
Lafayette Comes to America in | America First—100 Stories from Our History by Lawton B. Evans |
Lafayette Returns in | America First—100 Stories from Our History by Lawton B. Evans |
The Fight at Bennington in | Story of the Thirteen Colonies by H. A. Guerber |
Brandywine—Germantown—Valley Forge in | This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall |
Lafayette in | American History Stories, Volume II by Mara L. Pratt |
Era of Good Feeling in | American History Stories, Volume III by Mara L. Pratt |
Lafayette in | Builders of Our Country: Book II by Gertrude van Duyn Southworth |
Fall of the Bastile in | The Struggle for Sea Power by M. B. Synge |
Book Links |
---|
Image Links | ||
---|---|---|
![]() Morse Painting the Portrait of Lafayette in Great Inventors and Their Inventions |
![]() Lafayette as a boy in Fifty Famous People |
![]() Lafayette's statue at Washington in Story of the Great Republic |
![]() Washington and Lafayette in Story of the Thirteen Colonies |
![]() Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon in Famous Men of Modern Times |
![]() First Meeting of Washington and Lafayette in History of the United States |
![]() The fatal banquet. in Stories of the French Revolution |
![]() The national oath: The excavations in Stories of the French Revolution |
![]() The Mother of George Washington receiving Marquis Lafayette in True Stories of Our Presidents |
![]() Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge in Builders of Our Country: Book II |
![]() The Marquis de Lafayette when a Young Man in Builders of Our Country: Book II |
George Washington | Leader of the Continental Army of the U.S. during the Revolutionary War, and first President. |
Key figure of the French Revolution. Leader of the Reign of Terror. | |
Radical Doctor who became Leader of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. | |
King during the French revolution. Beheaded by republicans who sought to overthrow the monarchy. | |
French prince with liberal sympathies. Proclaimed king after abdication of Charles X. | |
Fifth president of the United States, and ally of Thomas Jefferson. Acquired Florida and promulgated the 'Monroe Doctrine.' |