In 1824, Lafayette visited Monticello as part of his grand tour of the country. The French hero of the American Revolution was treated like a celebrity at every stop, but the Monticello visit was special; Thomas Jefferson had known Lafayette well, and helped him draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, a cornerstone of French political thought whose first words read, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” The two elderly men openly wept as they greeted each other.

Years later, Israel Jefferson, a slave at Monticello who eventually purchased his freedom, would remember a conversation between Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson as he drove the two on a carriage ride:

Lafayette remarked that he thought that the slaves ought to be free; that no man could rightly hold ownership in his brother man; that he gave his best services to and spent his money in behalf of the Americans freely because he felt that they were fighting for a great and noble principle — the freedom of mankind; that instead of all being free a portion were held in bondage (which seemed to grieve his noble heart)… Mr. Jefferson replied that he thought the time would come when the slaves would be free, but did not indicate when or in what manner they would get their freedom. He seemed to think that the time had not then arrived.

This conversation was very gratifying to me, and I treasured it up in my heart.

Israel Jefferson, “Life Among the Lowly, No. III,” Pike County (Ohio) Republican, December 25, 1873.

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Links:

• Great read: Why Don't the French Celebrate Lafayette? - Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, August 16, 2021 (PDF)

  
  

• Lafayette's 1824 visit to Monticello - Monticello.org

  
  

• The Marquis de Lafayette's 1824-1825 United States Tour – Museum of the American Revolution

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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