By Christopher Hodapp, President
Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana
“Of all the high gratifications I have experienced, in my progress through my adopted country, my receptions by the Grand Lodges of the United States have afforded me the greatest, because I beheld in them a new and beautiful exhibition of that Union on which the prosperity of this great Republic is based, and a sure pledge of its continuance.” – Marquis de La Fayette speaking to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1825.
This year begins the 200th anniversary of Major General Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette’s triumphant goodwill tour of America between 1824-25. Lafayette’s exploits in America during the American Revolution endeared him to the new nation, and he had long been regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the war. The young French nobleman was thoroughly dedicated to the cause of liberty, even before he arrived in America, and long after he returned home to France, where he was soon swept up in their own revolution. Over the course of his long and tumultuous life, Lafayette would know and dine with the first seven presidents of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and the future president Andrew Jackson. But in addition to his life as a military figure, statesman, diplomat, revolutionary, abolitionist, political prisoner, and so much more, he was also a Freemason.
“Hero of Two Worlds”
After the deaths of his father, mother and grandfather, young Gilbert du Moitier inherited the aristocratic title of Marquis de La Fayette, along with a massive estate and a vast family fortune, making him one of the richest men in France. His father had been a military commander, killed in the American colonies by British forces during what we call the French and Indian War (known in Europe as the Seven Years War). Young Gilbert was intent on avenging his death. At just 14, he joined the Black Musketeers, King Louis XV’s horse guard, as a 2nd lieutenant. Two years later he married 14-year-old Adrienne de Noailles, whose own family was extraordinarily wealthy. And yet, with all of his wealth and honors, Lafayette (as his name was Americanized) became one of democracy’s greatest defenders, in both America and in France, eventually becoming ‘The Hero of Two Worlds.’
Lafayette in Revolutionary America
Lafayette’s role in the American Revolution is the stuff of legend. At the age of 19, when he learned of the Americans rebelling against Britain, he defied both his own family and a royal decree of King Louis’ that prohibited French officers and soldiers from fighting in America. Lafayette purchased his own ship, christened it Victoire, packed it full of military equipment and supplies, and sailed for Philadelphia, teaching himself English in the course of the voyage. The young man was no mercenary for hire—he volunteered his services to the Congress for no pay and was made a Major General in the Continental Army. George Washington almost immediately befriended the young, zealous Frenchman, who came to regard him as a father figure. Washington took him on as a member of his staff. Such was the Frenchman’s admiration for his commander that he named his son Georges Washington de La Fayette, in honor of his closest friend.
While recovering from a leg wound he received at the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette had briefly sailed back to France in 1778 and joined envoys Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in wooing King Louis to support the American cause, diplomatically, militarily, and financially. When he returned, he brought 6 ships and 6,000 French troops with him. Lafayette was tasked with planning and attempting an invasion into Canada, which was aborted after Congress failed to send promised troops. When Benedict Arnold turned traitor against the Americans, it was Lafayette and his men who hunted him down. And Lafayette commanded troops from the Virginia Continental forces at Yorktown in the final battle against Britain’s General Cornwallis that won the war for the Americans.
When the peace treaty was signed ending the American Revolution, leading to the establishment of the new United States, Lafayette famously declared, “America is sure of her independence. Humanity has won its case, and freedom will never again be without an asylum.”
The French Revolution
Lafayette’s life in France over the next decades rivaled his activities in America. Returning to France, he joined the National Assembly, where he was instrumental in the adoption of the French ‘tri-color’ red, white and blue flag. He fought for the formation of a constitutional French monarchy, and in 1789, he drafted a Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, written with the help of his friend Thomas Jefferson. It is one of the great Enlightenment documents of freedom.
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