Essay Sample on Marquis de Lafayette in American History

Introduction

Lafayette is one of those names that will never be forgotten in the annals of our race given the sacrifices injected in the struggle to free America from the French revolution. Lafayette was a selfless man who was ambitious and devoted for the sake of liberty to be achieved. As one of the champions of independence, he ensures to defend the American hemisphere and later walks back to his land satisfied of the labor, sacrifices, and perils that led to the full development of this nation (Foner, p.4). However, years later after returning to America, Lafayette says, "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." Of course, as a man who had devoted himself, his fortune, his hopes, towering ambitions, hereditary honors, and his life all for the cause of liberty for this nation has a right to complain and regret seeing how America had sunk deep in slavery. People no longer enjoyed the freedom the founding fathers like Lafayette had struggled to give the country; they were judged by their color, origin, and race. The urge to enslave fellow citizens had grown to the extent of draining humanity in the Whites who only saw dark people as animals to work and survive any tough conditions.

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Freedom is a concept that slaves or any person facing tribulations wish to have. In the early years of the 1760s to 1824, threads of slavery, racism, class, and the subjugation of people of color had increased in America. Looking through the deforming lens of slavery, it appears that these inhumane acts are being progressed from its original sin where colonists struggled to preserve a spot in lifelong human slavery. For instance, on March 5th, 1770, Crispus Attucks, a Native American and African origin slave who had run away from slavery met his death in the Boston Massacre conducted by the British (Foner, p.6). Native Americans and Africans were people who were enslaved due to their race, and this made them face many racial restrictions such as voting among other. The tribulations and pains the slaves faced caused many of them to try running away or even kill themselves. In this case, it implies that freedom from colonists only benefited the Whites while the Blacks remained victims whose concept of freedom was only elusive, a fact that leaves some of the founding fathers like Lafayette regretting to have injected much effort in the fight for liberation.

Poor white slave owners holding black slaves got the privileges of connecting to other distinguished and betters. With this advantage, the act of slavery had become a labor destined forever. The poorest whites fought to protect slavery at all cost. However, slaves were only granted freedom only in rare circumstances. In 1775, Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia promised freedom to any black person who joined the British forces. Over 5000 free black people joined the colonists alongside slaves only with an intention of escaping from the colonies and running to Canada and other places. We can, therefore, assert that slaves and even free black people took advantage of the war just to get a better shot of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness far from their colonial masters (Foner, p.18). A further analysis shows that the number of slaves and the indentured servants totaled up to 2.5 million in all the colonies. However, during the war, the blacks' population declined in all the colonies between 1770 and 1790. In South Carolina, the percentage of slaves reduced from 60.5 to 42.8% while in Georgia the number reduced from 45.2% to 26.1%. In this case, slaves were ready to die to get liberty, the reason for the mass emancipation registered in the history of America.

At no point did the British decide to end slavery; the reason why Lafayette came back in 1824 to find roots of slavery so deep that he wished to have never drawn his sword in defending America had he had known he was founding a slavery land. The population of slaves in America had increased by 70%. It is obvious that Lafayette and other founding fathers had not fought to gain independence from England but was also a battle for freedom for the enslaved black people. However, America only ended up being an empire with its wealth origins being rooted in slave labor (Foner, p 14).

Conclusion

Despite many historians arguing that Lafayette entered the American Revolutionary War to seek revenge for his father's death, it is evident that Lafayette only intended to support individual rights and bring freedom in the New World. He wished all people despite their race and color could take part in enjoying the acquired freedom. Lafayette links his sacrifice in the revolutionary war with liberty for all humanity, equality as well as peaceful freedom. However, it is evident that Lafayette only comes back to America to witness a corrupt nation that had sank in the jaws of slavery and nothing of what he had expected earlier. This makes him to conclude, "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."

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition. Vol. 1. WW Norton & Company, 2013.