Thomas Jefferson was Marquis de Lafayette, Gilbert du Motier

Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.


Born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France, Lafayette came from a wealthy landowning family. He followed its martial tradition, and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that the American cause in its revolutionary war was noble, and traveled to the New World seeking glory in it. There, he was made a major general.

Lafayette returned to France and, in 1787, was appointed to the Assembly of Notables, which was convened in response to the fiscal crisis. He was elected a member of the Estates-General of 1789, where representatives met from the three traditional orders of French society—the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. He helped write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, with Thomas Jefferson's assistance.

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Of interest to true students of American (and French) history looking to fill in some of the gaps in this new knowledge may also look with more scrutiny at the Hotel de La Fayette in Paris:

 In 1783, Lafayette bought a townhouse, at 183 rue de Bourbon, for 200,000 livres ($2 million).  He and his wife Adrienne were active in their salon, at the Hôtel de La Fayette, the headquarters of Americans in Paris, such as Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Abigail Adams, and Mr. and Mrs. John Jay who met every Monday, and dined in company with family, and the liberal nobility, such as Clermont-Tonnerre, Madame de Staël, Morellet, and Marmontel.  Hmmm.....