Lafayette’s Intellect
Presentation Type
Poster
Release Option
Event
Description
Between 1775 and 1834, the Marquis de Lafayette played a role in the ongoing development of both the American and French Revolutions, embodying in many ways the ideals of liberty. Most previous scholarship about Lafayette, such as Marc Leepson’s Lessons in Leadership, highlights his military activities as a major-general in the American Revolution and as General of the National Guard of Paris in the French Revolution. This paper examines Lafayette’s draft of the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, a list of enslaved peoples that were chosen for Lafayette’s experimental plantation in French Guiana, Lafayette’s membership in the Society of the Friends of Blacks, and letters between Lafayette and America’s Founding Fathers to suggest that Lafayette was deeply concerned with questions of liberty and slavery. It begins with an analysis of Lafayette’s views on government and liberty via his draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and then examines more broadly the development of his abolitionist views on slavery through the documents on his experimental plantation and his work promoting penal reforms. Overall, this paper demonstrates that the Marquis de Lafayette was much more than a military general, instead he is shown as one the greatest thinkers of the Revolutionary Era.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Faculty Mentor
Robert Batchelor
Department of Primary Presenter's Major
Department of History
Primary Presenter's Major(s)
History
Location
Poster Sessions (Lobby)
Symposium Year
2022
Lafayette’s Intellect
Poster Sessions (Lobby)
