From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Gilbert du Motier
Marquis de Lafayette 2.jpg
Lafayette in the uniform of a major general of the Continental Army, by Charles Willson Peale, between 1779–1780

Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-et-Marne
In office
22 May 1815 – 22 June 1815
Member of the Chamber of Peers for Sarthe
In office
4 October 1816 – July Revolution
Personal details
Born
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette

6 September 1757
Château de Chavaniac, Auvergne Province, Kingdom of France
Died20 May 1834 (aged 76)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Resting placePicpus Cemetery
Political partyLiberals 1815–1824
Doctrinaires 1824–death
Spouse(s)
(m. 1774; died 1807)
Children4, including Georges Washington
AwardsOrder of Saint Louis
Signature
Nickname(s)The Hero of the Two Worlds (Le Héros des Deux Mondes)
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of France (1771–1777, 1781–1791)
 United States (1777–1781)
Kingdom of France (1791–1792)
French First Republic (1792)
Kingdom of France (1830)
Branch/service
Years of service1771–1792
1830
Rank
  • Major general (U.S.)
  • Lieutenant Général (France)
Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War

French Revolution

War of the First Coalition
July Revolution

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (/ˌlɑːfˈɛt, ˌlæf-/, French: [lafajɛt]), was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, commanding American troops in several battles, including the siege of Yorktown. After returning to France, he was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830. He has been considered a national hero in both countries.

Lafayette was born into a wealthy land-owning family in Chavaniac in the province of Auvergne in south central France. He followed the family's martial tradition and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that the American revolutionary cause was noble, and he traveled to the New World seeking glory in it. He was made a major general at age 19, but he was initially not given American troops to command. He was wounded during the Battle of Brandywine but still managed to organize an orderly retreat, and he served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he sailed for home to lobby for an increase in French support. He returned to America in 1780 and was given senior positions in the Continental Army. In 1781, troops under his command in Virginia blocked forces led by Cornwallis until other American and French forces could position themselves for the decisive siege of Yorktown.

Lafayette returned to France and was appointed to the Assembly of Notables in 1787, convened in response to the fiscal crisis. He was elected a member of the Estates General of 1789, where representatives met from the three traditional orders of French society: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. After forming the National Constituent Assembly, he helped to write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen with Thomas Jefferson's assistance. This document was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence and invoked natural law to establish basic principles of the democratic nation-state. He also advocated the end of slavery, in keeping with the philosophy of natural rights. After the storming of the Bastille, he was appointed commander-in-chief of France's National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the years of revolution. In August 1792, radical factions ordered his arrest, and he fled into the Austrian Netherlands. He was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison.

Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release in 1797, though he refused to participate in Napoleon's government. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, he became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, a position which he held for most of the remainder of his life. In 1824, President James Monroe invited him to the United States as the nation's guest, where he visited all 24 states in the union and met a rapturous reception. During France's July Revolution of 1830, he declined an offer to become the French dictator. Instead, he supported Louis-Philippe as king, but turned against him when the monarch became autocratic. He died on 20 May 1834 and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, under soil from Bunker Hill. He is sometimes known as "The Hero of the Two Worlds" for his accomplishments in the service of both France and the United States.

Early life

Lafayette was born on 6 September 1757 to Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Paulette du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, colonel of grenadiers, and Marie Louise Jolie de La Rivière, at the château de Chavaniac, in Chavaniac-Lafayette, near Le Puy-en-Velay, in the province of Auvergne (now Haute-Loire).