French writer Chateaubriand once said that he only had one idea in his head, but was fortunate that it was the dominant idea of his age…liberty. He, of course, was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, also known as the Marquis de La Fayette. Lafayette came to the American Revolution as a young man, and was one of the leaders, not only militarily, but had a huge hand in bringing in French money, supplies and most importantly Navy. In America, Lafayette was seen as a cornerstone of American freedom and what Lafayette took from the American Revolution was a strong belief in liberty.
Lafayette was born to a noble family in 1957. His father died when he was 2 and his mother died when he was 12. The only surviving child left him extremely wealthy, but lost about what to do with his life. As many of the nobles of that age, Lafayette went into the military and was given a captaincy at age 18. He felt that his career path in the military was a much better choice than as a courtier at Versailles. Around that time, King Louis XVI realized that his military was full of young nobles who were in the military for the honor, but didn’t actually know how to fight, as evidenced by the French losses in the Seven Years War. The reformation of the military pushed out these old family regiments and instituted a more modern military structure. Lafayette found himself without a career and without an idea what to do about it.
Lafayette’s first introduction to liberty most likely came from joining the Freemasons, as well as discussions with his military friends about the recent American revolt against the British. There was a lot of discussion in the French Court about sending French officers over to help the Americans (not to promote liberty, but as a proxy war against the British). But when the British started talking about an actual war if that happened, King Louis XVI banned French officers from helping the Americans (and named Lafayette directly). Lafayette had already decided he was going, so he purchased his own ship and made the trip over to America.
Washington had a French Officer problem. Many other French Officers had come over to “help” him after the French military reform, but they wanted large salaries and to be given high ranks. So, when Lafayette came over, he was initially ignored and lumped in with the others French officers. But Lafayette had two things going for him. First, he was independently wealthy and offered to serve with no pay. And second, he was noble enough to have contacts with the French Court, which could lead to money, and supplies which the American desperately needed. So Lafayette joined Washington’s army as a Major General and even lived with Washington for awhile.
This was where Lafayette got his education in liberty that led him for the rest of his life. He became friends with the younger men in Washington’s staff included John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton. Throughout the war, Lafayette proved himself an adept military leader. His reputation grew enough that he went from fugitive of the king, to darling of the French Court. This allowed him to go back to France and lobby for needed money and supplies. And when the French Navy brought 28 ships to block the British Navy from helping out at the Battle of Yorktown. Lafayette was in placed in command and, with Hamilton’s help, helped take out a British fort. That success allowed Washington to surround the British troops and force a surrender.
Lafayette went back to a hero’s welcome in France. While he could have used his fame, nobility and money to push for power in France, Lafayette instead joined groups pushing for liberty in France. He wrote to noted abolitionist John Adams for everything that had been written on the subject of abolition of slavery as well as prison reform. Lafayette also pushed for religious freedom and was able to get some traction on allowing rights for Protestants in Catholic France. Lafayette realized that he needed to learn more to better push for liberty, so he went out of his way to get educated.
As the French moved slowly towards revolution, Lafayette found himself involved more and more. What started as a tax reform issue to help the King, who was quickly going bankrupt, it was pushed slowly into a full blown constitutional convention. Lafayette started off the National Constituent Assembly with his thoughts on liberty in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Lafayette wanted to document his views on liberty and went to get help from someone who had already done that with Thomas Jefferson.
As the French Revolution went further than anyone anticipated, Lafayette found himself on the outside because he didn’t fight to remove the monarchy. This eventually led him to spend 5 years in an Austrian prison. After a reprieve, orchestrated by Napoleon, Lafayette found himself still talking about liberty with like-minded Frenchmen, but refusing to help first Napoleon and then the reconstituted monarchy because of their opposition to liberty.
When the 1830 French Revolution started, Lafayette dropped everything and raced to Paris so he could join in.
By this time, Lafayette had been pushing for liberty in France for over forty years and was still getting disappointed by the promises of rights being spoken by leaders and then pulled away as they tried to take more power. But regardless of the difficulty and the constant failed promises, Lafayette died still pushing for the same liberty.
Chateaubriand, the French writer/politician, was mocking Lafayette with his statement on him having only a single idea. But Lafayette, learned liberty at the feet of the American founders and their lessons stayed with him forever. He often found himself disappointed with everyone on their views about slavery and human rights. But he stayed true to his beliefs for the rest of his life. He lost all his money and property, was in isolation in prison for several years and never got to see a free France. But he still pushed for liberty. He pushed the Americans to end slavery. He pushed the French to respect religious freedom. He pushed everyone to respect the rights of man and he turned down several opportunities to gain power for himself. Lafayette truly did have only one idea, but his idea was liberty for everyone.
When you are looking at your ideas, how far are you willing to push them? Is it just an idea for today and you’ll try something different tomorrow? Or is it a core belief that underlies your entire existence? Do you let your life be taken wherever your belief s take you? Will you stand by your idea when it can hurt you? Will you stand by your idea when you can gain power by abandoning it? Are you willing to do the right thing when it is difficult to do? Anyone can have ideas, but not everyone is willing to do what it takes to see the idea get implemented.