This is a guest post by Jason Zarin, a senior legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress. He previously authored President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court, Bite-Sized Legal Research Tutorial: Navigating the Library of Congress Catalog, and Bite-Sized Legal Research Tutorial: Military Legal Resources.
December 10, 2024, marks the 200th anniversary of a unique address to Congress in American history.
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, better known in the United States as the Marquis de Lafayette, was a military leader of the American Revolution and a political leader of the French Revolution. During the American Revolution, Lafayette served as a member of George Washington’s staff, brought needed French military support to the Americans’ side, and led the attack at the battle of Yorktown, where the British surrendered in 1781.
During Lafayette’s 13-month tour (along with his son Georges Washington), he visited all 24 states, accompanied by crowds of thousands of well-wishers. He met with former presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams, visited George Washington’s tomb, and was celebrated at the White House as the guest of both President James Monroe and President John Quincy Adams (who was inaugurated during Lafayette’s tour).
On December 6, 1824, the opening day of the second session of the 18th Congress, Speaker of the House Henry Clay invited Lafayette to address the House of Representatives on Friday, December 10. The Senate had already adjourned, but several Senators did attend the address.
On December 10, Lafayette entered the House of Representatives, accompanied by a committee of 24 representatives (1 from each state). The Register of Debates records the Speaker’s introduction:
General: The House of Representatives of the United States, impelled alike by its own feelings, and by those of the whole American People, could not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty than that of being its organ to present to you cordial congratulations upon the occasion of your recent arrival in the United States in compliance with the wishes of Congress, and to assure you of the very high satisfaction which your presence affords on this early theatre of your glory and renown. Although but few of the members who compose this body shared with you in the war of our Revolution, all have a knowledge, from impartial history, or from faithful tradition, of the perils, the sufferings, and the sacrifices, which you voluntarily encountered, and the signal services in America and in Europe, which you performed for an infant, a distant, and an alien people; and all feel and own the very great extent of the obligations under which you have placed our country.
Lafayette then addressed the House:
My obligations to the United States, sir, far exceed any merit I might claim. They date from the time when I have had the happiness to be adopted as a young soldier, a favored son of America. They have been continued to me during almost half a century of constant affection and confidence; and now, sir, thanks to your most gratifying invitation, I find myself greeted by a series of welcomes, one hour of which would more than compensate for the public exertions and sufferings of a whole life.
The approbation of the American People, and their Representatives, for my conduct during the vicissitudes of the European Revolution, is the highest reward I could receive. Well may I stand “firm and erect,” when in their names, and by you, Mr. Speaker, I am declared to have, in every instance, been faithful to those American principles of liberty, equality, and true social order, the devotion to which, as it has been from my earliest youth, so it shall continue to be to my latest breath.
After the conclusion of Lafayette’s speech, the House adjourned, and “[t]he Speaker then descended from the Chair and most affectionately saluted the General. His example was followed by the Members of the House, individually, and some time was spent in this agreeable manner before the General retired.”
Lafayette’s address to Congress was the first address by a foreign representative and the only time a private individual has had such an honor. For more information about addresses to Congress by foreign officials, please see the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report Foreign Leaders Addressing Congress.
A portrait by the French artist Ary Scheffer was commissioned during Lafayette’s tour and donated to the House of Representatives. Today, Lafayette’s portrait hangs in a place of honor beside the rostrum of the House of Representatives to the left of the Speaker’s chair. The portrait to the right of the Speaker is of George Washington.
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Comments (2)
Your link to Volume 1 of the Register of Debates is invalid–returns an error.
Thank you for letting us know, the link has been corrected!