Timeline - 1757 to the Present1757 Sept 6: Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is born at Chateau Chavaniac in the Auvergne region of southern France. 1770 April 24: Lafayette's maternal grandfather dies. He inherits great wealth from the La Rivière estate that includes a thousand acres of land, farms in Brittany, and business investments in the Indies. At 13, he becomes one of the wealthiest aristocrats in Europe. 1778 December: British invade and conquer Savannah, Georgia. 1781 January: Continental unrest. Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops mutiny. Washington hopes such actions inspire no repeat performances in other battalions. 1781 October: French and American troops cannonade the British into surrender after nine days of blistering artillery fire. 1787: Lafayette receives an honorary doctor of law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. 1789: Lafayette is elected as representative of the nobility to the Estates General at Paris. He becomes a leader of the liberal aristocrats and an outspoken advocate of religious freedom and the abolition of the slave trade. 1789 May: Lafayette supports maneuvers to gain control of the Estates General to convert it into a revolutionary National Assembly. 1799 November: The Directoire ends in failure. Organized in reaction to the Reign of Terror, it goes down in French history as one of the most corrupt and complicated governments--with the possible exception of the corruption and barbarism of the Empire under Emperor Napoleon. 1799: Napoleon refuses to let Lafayette into the country because of his liberal democratic ideas. Lafayette defies him by ignoring intimidation and returns anyway to become a gentleman farmer at his wife's chateau La Grange. 1824 August: Lafayette visits the spot where the Boston Liberty Tree had once stood. 1825 June 17: Lafayette helps to lay the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts on the 50th anniversary of the battle. 1825 September 9: Gilbert departs for France after his spectacular visitation to each of the 24 states of the Union. He sails aboard The Brandywine, a frigate named in his honor. 1830 July: Lafayette commands the National Guard that helps overthrow King Charles X and installs Louis-Philippe on the throne of France.
1830: Lafayette actively supports the Polish Revolution. He gives endless speeches in the Chamber of Deputies; he gives financial support, entertains exiled politicians, and becomes a founding member of the Polish Committee. 2007 May 22: The House of Representatives of the United States passes resolution honoring Lafayette on the 250th anniversary of his birth. |