America’s La Fayette-Mania or the question of 20000 USD
I sometimes like to compare La Fayette’s Tour of the United States in 1824/1825 with the Beatle Mania or the hype around Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – this is no apt comparison, however. Neither the Beatles nor Taylor Swift nor anyone else can really hold a candle to the euphoria and gratitude and excitement that La Fayette sparked in the Americans in 1824/25.
Not only did the United States and its inhabitants not tire for a good one and a half year of La Fayette and of celebrating him and the Revolution in any imaginable way, no, the United States also proofed to be extremely generous towards the Marquis.
La Fayette was never really that good with money – one of the side effects when you become one of the richest people in France at 14. But given his immense wealth this was never truly a problem (though his banker certainly tried to raise the issue more than once.) The French Revolution however strongly affected the family’s assets and financial situation. La Fayette and his wife were able to recover somewhat after being released from prison, but debts remained a problem even in 1824/1825. During the height of the French Revolution when the United States were trying to help La Fayette while also trying to keep France, Prussia and Austria appeased, Congress voted to pay him the money he originally shunned in wages (plus some extras they could justify). This money was an immense help and although dressed in some clever political and bureaucratic schemes, a stark sign of favour from America for La Fayette. But America was not done yet!
On December 23, 1824, the Congress of the United States voted (the Senate voted on the 23rd, the House of Representatives had voted the day prior on the 22nd) to gift La Fayette 24000 acres of “fertile land” as well as 200000 USD. 200000 USD is an incredibly large sum of money but let me give you some context of the value of that amount in 1824. A pound of coffee cost 18 cents. A member of Congress made eight USD every day that Congress was in session – in other words, Congress would have to be in session for a total of 68.4 years for a member to earn the 200000 USD that were discussed. The debate lasted two days because some members interjected that maybe – maybe – there were betters uses for the money in the treasury. They proposed offering La Fayette either 150000 or 100000 USD – still enormous amounts of money. Their objection with the original sum were also mostly technically or procedural – there was never any doubt in Congress that La Fayette was deserving of the original 200000 USD. But their colleagues were having none of it, neither did the press nor their constituents nor the general public (the backslash that some of these politicians received …). Auguste Levasseur described it as follows in his book:
Nevertheless, the newspapers, the organs of public opinion, in applauding these acts of congress, attacked, with a severity which distressed General Lafayette, those few members of the senate and house of representatives, who had voted against the national donation. These attacks, in fact, were the more unjust; for, as I have already said, the majority of the opponents of the measure were personal friends of the general, and wholly devoted to his interests; but in voting, not against the proposition, but against its form, they remained faithful to a principle they had always adopted, of not disposing of the public funds for other purposes than those of the public service. Some of them deemed it proper to explain this to the general.
Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or Journal of Travels in the United States, Translated from the French, Volume 2, New-York, 1829, p. 20.
In the end, the Bill passed the House of Representatives with 166 to 26 and was then send to the Senate where it passed unanimously. The whole debate, taken from the Register of Debates in Congress, is under the cut, if anyone is interested in the finer details!
Here is how Auguste Levasseur describes La Fayette reaction:
General Lafayette was greatly embarrassed on hearing this munificence of congress towards him. He was at first tempted to refuse it, as he thought the proofs of affection and popular gratitude which he had received from the moment of his arrival in the United States, were a sufficient recompense for all his services, and he had never desired any other. But he nevertheless felt, from the manner in which this offer was made, that he could not refuse it without offending the American nation, through its representatives, and he therefore immediately decided upon accepting it.
Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or Journal of Travels in the United States, Translated from the French, Volume 2, New-York, 1829, p. 19.
But wait - it got even better!
This act of congress was soon spread, by means of the public journals, through all parts of the Union, and was every where received with unanimous approbation. Some states even wished to make an addition to these grants of congress Thus for example Virginia, New York, and Maryland, were desirous to heap additional favours on the guest of the nation. It required all the determined moderation of the general to repress this excess of gratitude, which would have ended in placing at his disposal all the funds of the United States; for if the states had once engaged in this struggle of generosity, it is difficult to say where it would have ended.
Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or Journal of Travels in the United States, Translated from the French, Volume 2, New-York, 1829, p. 20.
La Fayette also met with the 26 men who voted against the passage of the Bill and this is what he had to say to them:
“Well”, replied the general, in taking them cordially by the hand, “I can assure you, that if I had had the honour of being your colleague, we should have been twenty-seven, not only because I partake of the sentiments which determined your votes, but also because I think that the American nation has done too much for me.” This reply soon appeared in all the journals, and, as may be supposed, only added to the popularity of him who made it.
Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or Journal of Travels in the United States, Translated from the French, Volume 2, New-York, 1829, p. 20.
So … between this and all the other countless marks of gratitude I honestly do not know what could compare to La Fayette’s Tour in 1824/25.
