MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE
(Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette)
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier
Lafayette was so engrossed with fighting in the Revolution that he really did not have a true picture of the total American attitude on slavery. He had fallen in love with the American idea and ideal based on the writings of intellectuals like Paine and Jefferson. Most of his time in America was spent with George Washington. The few American leaders he talked with were Northerners and/or intellectuals who were not rabid enthusiasts for slavery or were opposed. Slavery was so contradictory to the Declaration of Independence, Lafayette assumed that after the war was won and America was independent, the Americans would surely abolish slavery. After the Constitutional Convention many people were disappointed that the delegates had given in to the Southern slavery bloc. None more so than Lafayette.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, known in the United States as Lafayette (/ˌlɑːfiːˈɛt, 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.
