Why Lafayette's tour of U.S. is relevant in this moment

Two hundred years ago this month, the American nation, then nearing its 50th birthday, saw the conclusion of an extraordinary moment in its young life: the yearlong national tour of Gen. Lafayette, the great French hero of the American Revolution. The tour, which began on Aug. 24, 1824, and ended with Lafayette’s departure for France on Sept. 9, 1825, became a unifying event at a time of growing political tensions and national polarization, mainly over slavery and tariffs. That makes it all the more relevant in our own time.

His triumphant visit included the first-ever Broadway parade in Manhattan, where some 80,000 people — two-thirds of the city’s population — welcomed him.

In Brooklyn, he lifted up on his shoulders a 6-year-old boy who would become the great American poet Walt Whitman. He also made a stop at Fort Lafayette off the tip of Long Island.

Despite all the honors for Lafayette in the United States — including three towns named after him just in New York State — too little is remembered today about this remarkable man’s life.

In 1777, barely 20, the Marquis de Lafayette sailed to America to fight in the Revolutionary War, defying express orders from King Louis XVI. Lafayette was genuinely passionate about freedom, unlike many other French volunteers who wanted mainly to fight their historical enemy the English.

Despite his inexperience — and thanks partly to his connections at the French court — Congress gave Lafayette what was meant to be an honorary officer’s post in the Continental Army. Eventually, he persuaded Gen. George Washington, with whom he formed a warm father-son bond, to let him fight — and distinguished himself enough to get command of a division. When the conflict was over in 1783, Lafayette was a famous war hero in both America and France.

His subsequent years were filled with both glory and hardship. In 1789, he played a key role in the French Revolution and helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, largely inspired by the American Bill of Rights. Yet he soon found himself sidelined by the revolution’s radical turn and would have undoubtedly perished in the Reign of Terror had he not escaped abroad in 1792. Captured by the Austrians (who still viewed him as a dangerous revolutionary), he was imprisoned for five years, often in dismal conditions. Freed due to Napoleon’s intervention, he pointedly refused to support his rescuer’s authoritarian rule; his commitment to freedom remained undiminished.

Lafayette’s valedictory trip to the United States came at another difficult moment under the post-Napoleon restored monarchy: He had just been purged from the French parliament, along with most other liberals, in a manipulated election.

As "the Nation’s Guest," Lafayette visited 24 states and addressed Congress. He also witnessed a hyperpartisan, divisive election in which Andrew Jackson won the popular vote and the Electoral College had no clear winner — resulting in the House of Representatives handing the victory to John Quincy Adams. In 1825, Lafayette was immensely impressed by the peaceful transfer of power in 1825 after the acrimonious contest — a lesson badly needed in our time.

In 1830, four years before his death, Lafayette improbably became the hero of another French revolution. Throughout, he remained unwaveringly committed to the principles of liberty and self-government. A modern American biographer, Laura Auricchio, notes that while his life included many mistakes and failures, “he never abandoned the belief that he could change the world, and he never despaired of success.” That’s a good model for us all.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.