WRIGHT TAVERN Discover the
Epitomizing Unity in a Time of Divisiveness: The Inspiring Legacy of General Lafayette
In the Forefront of Revolution: The Massachusetts Provincial Congress
LAFAYETTE: A
Bridge Between Two Revolutions
Lafayette Comes to Concord —
You
are invited!
BY SHELLEY DRAKE HAWKS
OOn Monday, September 2, 2024 (Labor Day), Lafayette reenactor Benjamin J. Goldman will come to First Parish in Concord, commemorating the day and site where the town gave the French general a hero’s welcome two hundred years ago. Though the First Parish Meeting House was different in 1824, the adjacent Wright Tavern, built in 1747, is largely the same. When Lafayette arrived, it was no longer a tavern but a bakery. Francis Jarvis’ bakery operated out of the Wright Tavern and supplied fresh bread for Lafayette’s banquet on the lawn. This year, the Wright Tavern opened its doors as a gathering space. American Friends of Lafayette, a national organization leading this 24-state reenactment, asked the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust to provide a local program to commemorate Lafayette’s stop in Concord.
The public is warmly invited to assemble on the lawn of First Parish to watch a reenactment of Lafayette’s visit to Concord at 3:00 this Labor Day. The celebration is family-friendly and free of charge. Escorted by the Concord Militia playing fife and drum, “the general” will begin his journey at the Concord Museum’s parking lot and proceed to the lawn of First Parish via Lexington
Road. Upon his arrival, the Old Concord Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution will greet him with a wreath-laying ceremony. Vermont Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar, a descendant of the antislavery politician and attorney Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) who presided over the 1824 ceremony, will reenact his namesake’s speech. Tom Wilson, Chair of the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust, will read from the letter that President James Monroe wrote to Lafayette initiating the Farewell Tour. The reenactment is just the beginning of the commemoration. Guests will move indoors to the First Parish sanctuary where a seated program, recorded and livestreamed on Zoom, will focus on Lafayette’s antislavery and human rights advocacy. Historian Robert Gross will draw from his 2021 book Transcendentalists and their World to provide insight on Lafayette’s 1824 trip to Concord. Jen Turner, Executive Director of the Robbins House, will speak on Lafayette’s transformation into an abolitionist. Sam Williams, Executive Director of Concord Prison Outreach, will honor Lafayette’s humanitarianism by reading an original poem addressing our contemporary times. Williams will invite audience members to write
Lafayette about 1820-1840.
their own reflection on today’s issues and insert it into a time capsule to be opened one year later at the Wright Tavern. Anderson Manuel, Gospel Choir Director at First Parish, will lead guests in inspirational songs. A reception will follow at the Wright Tavern, featuring French cuisine, in honor of Lafayette’s commitment to liberty and equality and the indelible bond of friendship between the American and French people.
Following his military service in America, Lafayette lobbied friends and fellow soldiers to live up to the American ideals they fought for. He dedicated himself to ending slavery. In a letter addressed to his daughters and granddaughters, Lafayette wrote: “there is only one point to which I decidedly cannot resign myself: that is, slavery and the antiBlack prejudices.” (April 15, 1825) Historians credit Lafayette’s repeated urgings as the reason why Washington emancipated the enslaved people on his plantation in his will. Upon returning to France, Lafayette became a central figure in the fight for a constitutional order; but during the Reign of Terror, he had to flee the country to avoid arrest. Austrian authorities intercepted and jailed Lafayette for five years. Imprisonment did not embitter Lafayette but rather, broadened his sense of empathy to include the incarcerated.
Come join us for this unique townwide celebration of Lafayette’s legacy!
Shelley Drake Hawks is a board member of the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust.
* Reprinted
Concord Museum Collection.
Gift of Mrs. Louis A. Sohier; G299.
1824 silver medal with Lafayette on one side (shown) and Washington on the other, commissioned to celebrate Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America. 14.5 mm. Struck from dies by Joseph Lewis.
In the Forefront of Revolution: The Massachusetts Provincial Congress
BY ROBERT A. GROSS
When did the American Revolution begin? At the North Bridge on April 19, 1775, with “the shot heard round the world”? In Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, with the Declaration of Independence? John Adams thought the Revolution was over by the time the first guns were fired. It “was effected in the minds and hearts of the people.”
WArguably, that crucial turning-point occurred in Concord two hundred fifty years ago, when on October 11, 1774, delegates from all over Massachusetts, roughly 243 representatives from close to 200 towns, including the District of Maine, gathered in the Congregational meetinghouse (now First Parish) to deal with “the dangerous and alarming situation of public affairs” touched off by Britain’s harsh reaction to the Boston Tea Party. The mother country revoked the colony’s charter, issued in 1691 by William and Mary, and severely curtailed the popular role in government. Towns were prohibited from meeting more than once a year without the Governor’s consent. All judicial officers –judges, juries, and sheriffs – and members of the provincial council were made agents of the Crown. The port of Boston was closed to trade and the seat of government moved to Salem. And although the freeholders of each town could still send representatives to the General Court, the Governor could refuse to call the legislature into session.
That’s what happened in October 1774. The countryside was in uproar, as angry crowds
Reprinted with
intimidated royal officials into resigning their posts and blocked courts from dispensing justice. Everywhere county conventions sprang up to denounce the new regime and call for a province-wide conclave. In this tense atmosphere Governor Thomas Gage saw no reason to invite still more trouble by bringing the people’s representatives together.
Barred from gathering as an official body in Salem, the assembly reorganized as a provincial council and convened in Concord. The meetinghouse was the venue for formal proceedings; committees met over drinks in Wright Tavern. Over the next eight months sessions would circulate among Cambridge, Concord, and Watertown. The proceedings were guided by such luminaries as John and Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Elbridge Gerry, Dr. Joseph Warren, and Benjamin Lincoln. On this provincial stage, despite professing loyalty to the King, the delegates steadily chipped away at imperial authority, until they had seized the reins of government. First, they claimed the power of the purse and commandeered the taxes collected by the towns. Then they applied the funds to secure the power of the sword.
The Congress took control of the militia, amassed arms and ammunition, authorized an army, and established a system to alarm the countryside and foil the King’s men in case of “sudden” maneuvers by “our Enemies.” Without the Provincial Congress
there would have been no Patriot victory on April 19.
The Wright Tavern Legacy Trust and Concord250 will commemorate the Provincial Congress, 250 years to the day of its opening session and at the same site, First Parish meetinghouse, with a program of lectures and conversations about popular self-government in Massachusetts and the United States, past, present, and future. Participants will include noted scholars, Massachusetts legislators, teachers and students, and members of the public. For further details see WrightTavern.org/ history.
Robert A. Gross, James L. and Shirley A. Draper Professor Emeritus of Early American History at the University of Connecticut, is the author of The Minutemen and Their World (1976), winner of the Bancroft Prize and reissued in a revised and expanded edition in 2022 by Picador Press, and The Transcendentalists and Their World (2021), selected by the Wall Street Journal as one of top ten books of 2021. A trustee of the Concord Museum and member of the Concord Cultural Council, he is a Concord resident.
George Washington preparing his troops for the seminal siege of Yorktown, Virginia, that effectively ended the American Revolution, with Lafayette by his side.
Epitomizing Unity in a Time of Divisiveness
The Inspiring Legacy of General Lafayette
BY JULIEN ICHER
AAs the country prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution, many communities are planning celebrations to honor the singular story of the United States and commemorate the meaning of what it means to be an American. This effervescent environment presents a great opportunity to revisit the legacy of some of the historical figures that marked early American history by helping to establish the political foundations that have sustained the American experiment for 250 years. One of those pivotal figures is General Lafayette, a French-born hero of the American
Revolution, whose legacy continues to be the recipient of the affectionate curiosity of the American people.
Lafayette was a French aristocrat who volunteered with the Continental Army, defying the will of his family to pursue what his heart commended him to do. His commitment to the American cause continues to be a powerful reminder of the universal appeal of the American Revolution. By the summer of 1775, at age 17, Lafayette was already an inducted member of the freemasonry and was imbued with the ideals of the western Enlightenment. Lafayette valued the noble
character of fighting to elevate the human condition. He was deeply convinced of the transformational character of the American Revolution.
In his view, the conflict represented the single greatest chance of establishing a nation founded on enlightened principles that could challenge the dominance of European authoritarian systems. Lafayette placed his trust in American leaders to forge a government serving the best interest of mankind. His selfless support for the formation of the United States lives on in the form of a continued remembrance of his life and values.
* Reprinted with permission from Discover Concord Fall 2023
Rembrandt Peale, Washington Before Yorktown, 1824-1825. Oil on canvas. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gift of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association.
LAFAYETTE IN THE UNITED STATES
Lafayette visited the United States four times in his life. He first arrived in South Carolina in 1777. Having returned to France in 1779, he made a second trip back to the U.S. aboard the Hermione, which landed in Boston in April 1780 with welcome news that military support from France was en route. Following the victorious end to the American Revolution, Lafayette returned to North America for the third time in 1784. During that trip, he traveled across most of the Atlantic states as far north as Portsmouth, NH, and as far south as Yorktown, VA. While in the north, he participated in the peace negotiations with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy leading to the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in October 1784. In Virginia, he reunited with his friend George Washington at Mount Vernon.
More than 40 years later (at the invitation of Congress), Lafayette effectuated a triumphal tour of the United States from August 16, 1824, to September 7, 1825 - visiting all 24 existing states, and DC.
The country had changed greatly since Lafayette was last seen in the U.S. It had grown more polarized. The French Revolution had led to an ideological split within Washington’s Cabinet. Napoleon’s transatlantic ambitions agitated the Caribbean and stressed the U.S. diplomatic corps in Europe. Following the Louisiana Purchase, assimilating the populations living in Louisiana was a major preoccupation that lasted throughout the Jefferson administration. The War of 1812 had a devastating effect on American commerce, although a short-lived post-war nationalism gave the illusion that the U.S. was uniting again. It was a mirage. By 1820, the country was back on a dividing path. Northern industrial interests were ever more at odds with southern cotton exports. More states had joined the Union, as the economy looked increasingly West rather than overseas. Some of these new states welcomed slavery. Others prohibited it. The 1820 Missouri Compromise provided a temporary measure to preserve national unity. However, it concomitantly exposed the incapacity of the nation to resolve its differences on the subject. Finally, the developments of the 1824 presidential election fragmented the country even further. With a generation of Revolutionary War leaders dying out, the burden of ensuring the survival of the spirit of the American Revolution fell on Lafayette in 1824. He was decades younger than most of his brothers-
in-arms and was still able to serve as a reminder of that pivotal generation. For more than one year, he was a traveling exhibit of the Revolutionary War. Youngsters could see the great Lafayette, the intrepid Frenchman who had fought alongside Washington all those years ago.
Lafayette contributed a much-needed boost of confidence to the American people at a time when many doubted that their country would be more than just a short-lived experiment. He resuscitated awareness in the foundations of the country. He provided a platform for people to emphasize what they shared instead of what drove them apart.
With Lafayette among them, Americans celebrated the political and social results of the American Revolution and developed a desire to memorialize the foundations of the country. Arches were erected across the country in tribute to Lafayette. By honoring the Frenchman, the country was truly honoring itself and the progress it had made since its seminal revolution.
LEXINGTON AND CONCORD – UNITED IN HONORING LAFAYETTE
As part of his Farewell Tour to the United States, Lafayette visited Lexington and Concord on September 2, 1824. Lafayette was the epitome of the American Revolution, and the birthplaces of the conflict rose up with majesty to honor him. A spirit of friendliness, patriotism, and pride presided over the celebrations. Both towns vividly remember Lafayette’s visit to this day. Their connection to Lafayette cultivates an
environment of collaboration between all the communities whose story is woven together by the final journey of the Frenchman in the United States.
The Lafayette Trail, Inc. works closely with communities to honor the memory of Lafayette’s 1824-1825 Farewell Tour to America. To date, 122 markers have been installed in sites where Lafayette visited. Lexington, MA, will celebrate the 200th anniversary with a reenactment of Lafayette’s visit in September 2024. Concord, MA, has also been invited to include a marker to honor this ardent friend and supporter of the United States.
In many ways, our modern society is experiencing a moment that is reminiscent of what Lafayette witnessed in 1824. Political polarization is rampant, and trust is sorely lacking. However, just like in 1824, the country can be reminded that it possesses in its national institutions the resiliency necessary to bounce back from divisiveness. Furthermore, there are icons like Lafayette in our shared national history who poured all their energy into ensuring the formation of this country. Their sacrifices cannot be forgotten or overlooked.
Julien P. Icher is a 30-year-old French national. He is the founder and president of The Lafayette Trail, Inc., a nonprofit organization with the mission to document, map, and mark General Lafayette’s footsteps during his Farewell Tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825. Visit lafayette2024.org
©
Julien Icher
A Lafayette Trail Marker, Honoring Lafayette’s Visit to Lexington, Massachusetts, on September 2, 1824
A Bridge between Two Revolutions Lafayette:
BY JULIEN ICHER
CConcord, Massachusetts, is home to two important revolutions: a military one starting on April 19, 1775, and a moral, intellectual, and ideological one, epitomized more than half a century later by the Transcendentalist movement and its staunch support for the abolition of those enslaved in America. Few heroes in American history resonate so strongly with both of these movements as the iconic Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette.
Lafayette and the Fight for American Independence
At age 19, influenced by the ideals surrounding the discoveries of the Western Enlightenment, Lafayette sailed to North America to help establish an independent nation that would guarantee the equal protection of the natural rights of individuals under the law. He befriended George Washington and was quickly elevated to the rank of Major General in 1777. Lafayette bled for America at Brandywine and served at Barren Hill, Monmouth, and Newport. He remained a staunch ally to the emerging United States and a trusted friend of Washington. His influence was instrumental in securing military support from France, which would ultimately lead to the victorious siege at Yorktown, Virginia, in October of 1781.
In 1824, Lafayette was invited on a special tour of the United States by President
Monroe and Congress in honor of the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution. From August 1824 to September 1825, he was the “Nation’s Guest,1” traveling more than 5,000 miles across the then 24-state union. As the last surviving Major General from the Revolution, the charismatic Lafayette was greeted with much pomp and circumstance wherever he went. His presence on American soil provided much-needed common ground between Americans amidst the deep partisan divisions polarizing the nation during the 1824 U.S. presidential election.
Americans looked to Lafayette for clues, recognition, and reassurance of the success of the American Experiment. Lafayette, the close friend of Washington, consolidated the belief among Americans that the federal republican form of government adopted in this country was unique and worthy of pride. His visit led to an increased sense of national awareness, to a renewed interest in the conflict leading to national independence, and to a greater understanding that the ideals of the American Revolution ought to be preserved for future generations.
Stopping in Concord on September 2, 1824, on his way back from Boston to New York City, Lafayette highlighted the importance of the shots fired at Concord in April 1775: “It was the alarm gun to all Europe, or as I may say, the whole world. For
it was the signal gun, which summoned all the world to assert their rights and become free.” His military service was honored by Concord residents, who claimed that “From the 19th of April 1775, here noted in blood, to a memorable day in Yorktown, your heart and your sword were with us.” An arch was erected in the town to welcome Lafayette. It bore the inscription, “In 1775 People of Concord met the enemies of liberty: In 1824, they welcome the bold asserter of the Rights of Man, Lafayette.”2
Lafayette – an Inspiration to Human Rights Advocates
Lafayette was a lifelong champion of universal human rights and a staunch abolitionist. He consistently advanced this agenda, as he believed it would benefit the national interest. European philosophers such as Diderot and d’Alembert (1750s-1760s)3, Condorcet (1781)4, and Abbé Grégoire (1815)5 sought to explore the complex ways in which slavery affected enslaved persons. They laid out analyses combining philosophical and moral components to offer a path for ending slavery successfully.
In the United States, Northern abolitionist societies increasingly advocated for the gradual emancipation of enslaved people. Legislation was passed in Pennsylvania (1780) and New York (1799) to promote the
Scheffer, Ary, Lafayette
idea.6 The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, chartered in 1775, changed its name in the 1780s to reflect this new consideration for “improving the condition of the African Race.”7 This position highlighted the emphasis on ending slavery while ensuring that any abolitionist agenda would lead to the longterm successful insertion of newly freed men and women into society. Many like Lafayette embraced the idea of exploring the lasting damage caused by a lifelong condition of bondage and that slaves needed to be “duly prepared for the rational enjoyment of freedom.”8
Lafayette’s intellectual proximity with these circles led him to conceive of the Cayenne Experiments. In a letter dated February 5, 1783, Lafayette challenged George Washington to address the dilemma of slavery in a society founded on universal human rights and invited his friend to join him in an experiment that would be “greatly beneficial for the Black part of mankind.”9 Unable to obtain the support of Washington,
Lafayette proceeded in 1785 with his plan in the French colony of Guiana (now French Guiana). The experiment focused on ameliorating the conditions of bondage on the plantation by eliminating any forms of corporal punishment, enacting laws to prohibit the usage of tools most associated with the violent treatment of enslaved workers, and by encouraging a sense of collective identity.
Bridging Concord’s Two Revolutions
When Lafayette visited in 1824, the debate around slavery was just as hotly contested in Concord as it was nationally, when The Missouri Compromise of 1820 established Missouri as a slave state, balanced by the free state of Maine. Lafayette consistently laid out a compelling link between the American fight for freedom and the plight of the enslaved in this country. And while Lafayette would never work alongside Emerson, Thoreau, or the Concord Alcotts, his words and his passionate support for
LEFT: Jacques Nicholas Bellin, Carte de la Guyane, 1757
BELOW: Sentinel and Democrat (Burlington, Vermont, Friday, September 17, 1824)
universal human rights would resonate with the generation that followed his momentous visit to Concord and further encourage them over the next several decades. His muchcelebrated visit in 1824 would serve as a bridge between the ideals of the American Revolution and the foundational philosophies espoused by the Transcendentalists to come.
Julien P. Icher is a French native and Founder and President of The Lafayette Trail, a nonprofit organization with a mission to document, map, and mark General Lafayette’s footsteps during his Farewell Tour of the United States in 1824-25. It aims to educate the public about the national significance of Lafayette’s Tour and to promote a broader understanding of Lafayette’s numerous contributions to American independence and national coherence, in preparation for America’s 2024-2025 bicentennial celebrations. You can learn more about this initiative (and support it!) at thelafayettetrail.org.
1 Connecticut Gazette (New London, Connecticut, September 22, 1824). 2 Sentinel and Democrat (Burlington, Vermont, September 17, 1824). 3 Diderot, d’Alembert, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres, 28 vols (Paris, France, 1751). 4 M. Schwartz (Condorcet), Réflexions sur l’esclavage des Nègres (Neufchâtel, 1781), 44p. 5 Grégoire, Henry, De la Traite et de l’esclavage des noirs et des blancs (Adrien Egron: Paris, France, 1815), 40p. 6 https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/gradual-abolition-act-of-1780/, http://www.archives.nysed.gov/education/act-gradualabolition-slavery-1799. 7 Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Five Years’ abstract of Transactions of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and for improving the condition of the African Race (Merrihew and Thompson’s: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1853). 8 National Journal (Washington, D.C., May 12, 1825), 1. 9 “To George Washington from Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 5 February 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10575.
