Lafayette: Hero of the American Revolution and Abolitionist

In his talk, Alan Hoffman will describe General Lafayette’s important role in the American Revolution. This included not only his service in the Continental Army but also his role as an intermediary between the newly formed United States and its ally, his homeland, France. Hoffman will then explore Lafayette’s evolution from, at best, a blank slate on the slavery question when he joined the American Revolution, to becoming a leading advocate for the abolition of slavery whose words and deeds inspired American abolitionists in the decades after his death in 1834. 

Lafayette's first foray into human rights work was during the American Revolution which he saw as a cause important to all people. He continued to promote universal natural rights throughout his life. During the French Revolution he drafted "the Rights of Man and the Citizen" and later supported other revolutions in Europe and South America as well as causes designed to deliver human rights to the oppressed. In particular, the abolition of slavery engaged Lafayette continuously, from the American Revolution and his return tour of the United States until his death in 1834. Lafayette said: "I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery."