The Marquis de Lafayette, who was both one of the first foreigner to meddle in US domestic affairs and also one of the first foreigners to be inspired by American ideals, sails onto the scene as the subject of today’s #stampoftheday. Issued on September 6, 1957 in honor of Lafayette’s 200th birthday, the 3-cent stamp honors the 200th birthday of the man whose full name was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette.

Lafayette (as he generally has been known in the US) was a French aristocrat who not only fought with and later commanded American troops in several battles, including the Siege of Yorktown but also helped secure crucial French support for the American rebels. Moreover, after returning to France after the war, he played a central role in the French Revolution of 1789 and was the co-drafter of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a seminal statement of the French Revolution’s core values that for over 200 years has helped shape popular conceptions of individual liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide.

Like many of my generation, I knew the bare bones of his story: he came here, he helped the Americans win the Revolutionary War and he played an important role in the French Revolution, where he was something of a moderate. As is often the case, the story is more nuanced. To begin with, he came here against the explicit orders of his King, who been open to the idea of sending French officers to help the Americans as a way of getting back at the British, but had dropped that support when the British warned it could lead to war.

I didn’t know that the Americans initially didn’t welcome him because they were tired of receiving French officers who didn’t speak English and didn’t have much if any military experience. But, thanks to the fact that he didn’t ask for any money (and even paid troops out of his ample inherited wealth) and the fact that he had a letter of introduction from Ben Franklin, and the fact that, like many of the Revolution’s leaders, he was a Freemason, he met and apparently hit it off with George Washington. Supposedly, Lafayette impressed Washington when he told him, “I am here to learn not teach.”

I knew that Lafayette distinguished himself in battle and he and Washington became quite close. I don’t think I knew that he returned to France in the middle of the war to lobby the French government to support the American cause and I definitely didn’t know that he also pressed the French to launch an invasion of England. That plan did move forward to awhile but ultimately floundered, in part because the French navy and that of their Spanish allies were unable to engage with and defeat faster British ships as a prelude to that battle.

I didn’t know that the American situation was quite precarious when Lafayette, who had secured promises of French aid for the rebels, returned to the United States. And I didn’t know that he played a key role in the battles and maneuvers that led up to the British defeat at Yorktown that effectively ended the war.

I did know that Lafayette returned to France after the war and that he played a major role in the French Revolution. I didn’t know that he was one of two people who drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man or that he consulted extensively with Thomas Jefferson on that document, which, after a preamble, has, as its first article, the assertion that: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good” and continues, in its second article, by asserting: “The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of Man. These rights are Liberty, Property, Safety and Resistance to Oppression.”

I vaguely knew that this document is important because it asserts that the rights of man are universal, valid at all times and in every place. And while I knew it is considered important, I’m not sure I fully appreciated that together with the 1215 Magna Carta, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence, and the 1789 United States Bill of Rights, the Declaration was a major inspiration for the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, in turn, has been a touchstone for those fighting for basic human rights all over the world for the last seven decades.

I certainly didn’t know that while the French Revolution provided rights to a larger portion of the population than before, there remained a distinction between those who obtained the political rights in the Declaration and those who did not. In particular, the Declaration initially applied only to adult male property owners, who made up about only about 15 percent of the population.

I knew the Lafayette fell out of favor with the radical factions that became increasingly powerful after the French Revolution. I think I knew they ordered him arrested. But I didn’t know that he fled to to the Austrian-controlled Netherlands where he was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison.

I did know that he was revered in America and returned to a rapturous reception. I didn’t know he’s buried in Paris but under soil from Bunker Hill. And I mistakenly believed that when American soldiers landed in France in 1917, they supposedly said, “Lafayette, we are here.” (The words were spoken at his tomb in Paris as part of a 4th of July celebration in 1917).

Finally, I didn’t know that Lafayette is among the small number of people, most of them former presidents, generals, and 19th century statesmen, who have appeared on more than one stamp. In addition to this one, he’s featured on a 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of his landing in America as well a 13-cent stamp issued in 1977 to mark the 200th anniversary of the same event.

In short, while I knew Lafayette was important but I didn’t know how important, how interesting, and, how involved he was in a variety of seminal events. And that makes me wonder if those following these posts knew anything about Lafayette before reading this and, if so, whether they knew any more than I did.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice, resist oppression, and work for peace.