Magnificent day. This 14th of july, the day in which we french celebrate the beginning of our revolution. I am here meeting with my dear friend, your thomas jefferson, in hopes that he shall arrive sometime soon, so let us hope we can all have a conversation together. Where is mr. Jefferson . Mon cher, lafayette. Mon cher, jefferson. What a pleasure it is to see you again over so many years. More than 30 years, absolutely. And with great reverence to bastille day. Just as we celebrate the fourth of july, in france it is the 14th of july. We shall celebrate together, my friend. General, we have not forgotten your assistance in our nation either, and the American Revolution would have never been successful without the aid of france. It is a grand alliance between our two nations, my friends general rochambeau, others coming to the assistance of our newfound friend and ally, the United States. And mr. Marquis, we are not alone. We have the world with us today, welcoming us all back to monticello, as i hope you have discovered. I did not realize the entire world. This must be one of your mr. Benjamin franklins inventions, isnt it . It brings us together this afternoon with the opportunity for a chance to ask some questions. Questions about our friendship, about the french revolution, about what has transpired in the history of your nation, let alone our own, in which you and myself laid no small part. Played no small part. Indeed. And we have to the questions, mademoiselle alice wagner. Thank you for being here today, and if you are set, we are ready to begin with the first question. Monseiur lafayette, when did you come to america and why . Must admit i love telling the story. I came to america in june 1777, but that was not i first are the glorious call of american freedom. It was back in 1775, back then, i was but a second lieutenant, newly promoted to the rank of captain, only in truth because my fatherinlaw owned the regiment, so it was a bit of a wedding gift. I was billeted in the eastern part of france. As was commonplace back then, we would often have these grandiose dinner parties with all of the most noble in attendance. We would speak about the various subjects of the day, a war that has begun or concluded, perhaps in innovation in strategy or tactics. On one occasion, we had a very special guest. This guest was none other than the duke of gloucester. Yes, the same name applies to that in the city of williamsburg that you know so very well. That street was named after the eldest son of queen anne, william, duke of gloucester, who passed away before he could become monarch. Indeed, my friend. This was the brother of george the third, the king of england. We soon discovered that he was rather simple that the american cause. Many were of the opinion that he thought america should be free and independent. So we listened to what he had to say. We spoke of the fighting at lexington and the town hall of congress in philadelphia, and your grand the great man himself, general washington. It was by the conclusion of this meeting that i told my brother officers that i was ready and willing to fight and, if need be, die for this cause. Now i know many have said, but why monsieur marquis, would you want to go fight and die in another mans war . I felt this was a warlike none other in the history of man. Was it not . A were of great ideas. A war that embraced the idea of great thinkers of the enlightened age. This age of reason. With men like voltaire and rousseau and montague. People who believe that a man, no matter what station in life, might be free, whether he be black or white, catholic or protestant, with rich or poor, slave or free should not make a difference but by which the way that person would carry themselves and them prove himself in this world. It was with this inspiration that i received a promissory note by your very own american agent from connecticut, and i came to america and began taking part in this grand crusade. General marquis, i must tell you that i might have been the one who influenced you if i had accompanied dr. Franklin to france. Once we declared our independence, the new congress of the United States actually invited me to sail to france, but i could not. Ill health ran through my family at the time, the commonwealth of virginia required me to work on their constitution and so it was. I know mr. Adams would have been sent as well, and perhaps you would have been wellsuited for it, as opposed to mr. Adams, who said i had a canine appetite for popularity. [laughs] i had that great opportunity when congress invited me to secede dr. Benjamin franklin as our nations first minister to the court of louis the 16th. I was quite delighted to receive that commission, and you know, as i wanted to have more of a knowledge of all of our new nation and had never been to new england, i decided to sail to france from boston. So i went up to new england, and their hoping to board a ship upon which mrs. John adams would be a passenger. I arrived too late to make a reservation upon the ship. I did have the opportunity to meet with mrs. Adams, but in short time, and she embarked and i had to wait for the next ship. The ship i sailed on without a it left boston on the fifth of july. I spent the fourth of july in boston. Do you know a number of years later, you may recall, i was sailing the atlantic eastward when you were sailing the atlantic westward to return to our nation for the First Time Since the war. Do you think that your ship and mine passed in the night . They undoubtedly did, my friend. If only we knew. Are there any other questions for us . This means that both you and mr. Jefferson were in france during the storming of the bastille on july 14, 1789. How did each of you experience that moment . I daresay, monsieur marquis, you were an actor on the stage of all the turbulence that was brewing at the bastille on july 14. I was there to see you, bear witness to your great speech that you gave. You honor me so, my friend. Of course, the storming of the bastille was just the explosion. The revolution in france occurred because of many reasons. Some have said it was because of the amount of money that france had spent on the revolution in america. Some said it was the great ideas from philosophers speaking of revolution. It was no surprise revolution would come. Indeed, the ideas that you spoke of in america became contagious. In fact general washington spoke of the tree of liberty that would continue to grow and spread its leaves, and those leaves had landed in france, many in the minds of general rochambeaus soldiers. There, i found myself with the general representing the second estate, or the aristocracy, and we were deciding what was going to occur next. I have placed fourth the document that we had worked on together of the rights of man and of the citizens, a preamble to our french constitution, and as we were debating whether this document should be accepted, many of the people of france became greatly concerned that some change was going to take place. And they began rioting in the streets of paris. The queen, born in austria, marie antoinette, had spread a rumor she was bringing in foreign troops, and the presence of the swiss guards to guard the royal family, which was commonplace for many, many years in the kingdom of france, many felt that the french people would be replaced by these foreign mercenaries. The people of france rose up in revolt. I found myself attending these various sessions when i heard of the storming of the bastille. The city of paris, as you know, has over 600,000 people and nearly 80,000 of them rose in revolt. They went to the left bank of the river seine, where there were weapons to be found. They retrieved muskets, pistols, sabers and canons, and continued on to the bastille. What was the bastille . It was a fortress that had been converted into a prison, but not for your common criminal. It was a prison for those who had spoke out against the government. The injustices that occurred. Voltaire had spent a bit of time at the bastille, so by taking the bastille, you could unlock the doors and allow freedom of speech for the people. It was the repository of munitions. The people were interested to appropriate for themselves the arms that were in there, the safety and defense in arms and gunpowder. You speak the truth, my friend. Of course there was a great deal of black powder operated the weapons system of our age, so not only by a locking the injustice, but by providing the equipment that would be needed to defend themselves against foreign attackers. The bastille would be taken. Alas, there were only seven criminals within the bastille at that time, but the very next day, i found myself trying to restore order. I found a horse, a white horse that looked magnificent in restoring order, i donned the uniform i had worn during the American Revolution, and with the streets to stop the violence, tell people to remain calm as best they could in hopes that change would occur. It was at that moment, my friend, that i was made commander of the guard nationale, a National Guard that would remain and keep order within the city of paris. I remember distinctly, monsieur le marquis, that you were the only one who could restore the faith of the french people. No one knew anything to be the precise fact of the matter. They were not hearing what they felt would ease their concerns, let alone their pain. All of the facts had for so long been held in the cards of royalty and nobility. When you referred to the estate general. I remember the ancient government of three particular classes am i correct . The first class was clergy, all my, the clergy. The second class was the nobility and the monarchy. The 3rd class were the people. I would not deign to refer to them as peasants, some did, but they were people included merchants and doctors as well. They had not met for about 150 years. The last time the estate generale had met with 1614. The year was 1789. The last time the estate generale had met with 1614. The year was 1789. I ask all of you, is that an effective legislative body . I think not. And i can understand that two thirds of that body would dictate and proffer unto the one third, the people. Mademoiselle wagner, you asked about the storming of the bastille that day, i was visiting a hotel. My good friend, madame de corning, and her son. General, you bore witness to the fact that practicing as i did the beauty of your language to speak it fluently, i was never very successful. His name is ethis. He returned to inform all of us what had occurred at the bastille, and i remember as well hearing a story that was told to me by a good friend of my secretary, william shaw. His friend was a french nobleman by the name of liam hoff. As the story goes, the king was out hunting, as he often did, instead of seeing to the affairs of state, especially as volatile as things were at that moment. One of his advisors, his ministers, came to him with a very sour expression upon his face, and the king looked at him, saying, is it a revolt . He responded with, no, sire, it is a revolution. Said on the 14th of july, 1789. The revolution had officially begun. Monsieur de marquis, the french people knew what was occurring, even if they were not certain of the facts. But was it not the royalty, the nobility that had simply lost touch with their people . Were almost in a world of their own . You referred to the late queen marie antoinette. I have often said if it were not for the queen, there never would have been a revolution. Im referring to her extravagance, the fact that she actually manufactured a peasant village on the grounds of versailles, where she would dress up as a peasant woman and go out amongst her sheep, etc. This showed the monarchy had simply distanced themselves so far from their own people. Indeed. Her reign as queen of france became less and less popular. Many lives were attributed to her, such as let them eat cake she never said such a thing. But because she was austrian born, many people, as the revolution progressed, became less and less trusting of her. And, of course, at such a volatile time, spending so much of the kingdoms money created a great problem for the people of france who thought her an enemy of the people and no longer a savior of the people. I would have been hopeful that the king could have united the people, created the Constitutional Monarchy that would have remained, not unlike a glorious revolution to mimic the english, where there was not a loss of life, but great change for the betterment of mankind. As we know, my friend, that would not come to pass. And it cannot be denied, the french people were hungry. They were very hungry, were they not . It had been a disastrous winter, 1788 and 1789. I believe the summer before had seen torrential rain storms. Autumn of 1788 saw drought, and the winter was very, very oppressive. All of the orchards and fruits and fields of grain were destroyed, they hardly had anything to eat. It was a difficult time for the people of france, and it is no surprise that they rose to revolt. Mademoiselle wagner, perhaps there are other questions . How did you each experience the french revolution from 1789 on . How did we experience that revolution from that moment . I was safe at home, but at the time of the storming of the bastille, as you know, i was already making preparations to return home. I was not certain what was expected of me and our new government when i say new government, i meant the government under our constitution. So i left september of 1789. I never saw what ensued. In fact, i learned when i returned home of what happened when you lead the parisians to versailles. Indeed, it was after the storming of the bastille that we hoped to establish the Constitutional Monarchy, keeping the king as the chief executive, having a legislative body look after the best interests of the people of france, and this was achieved. But it took a bit of time. The document, the declaration of rights of the citizens, the preamble in which we spoke of those natural rights of life, liberty, property, of the pursuit of happiness, of freedom from oppression. It took a bit of time before the king would accept this, but on october 6, after some provoking, this was accepted. The provoking was the amount of the women to versailles to demand the butcher, the baker, and the bakers wife. The people were starving, as you so eloquently stated, and they were in want of food. At versailles, no more than 12 miles from the city of paris, there were granaries that could provide people with that to make bread, the staple of the french diet. Many of the women began their march on versailles. They began to be followed by others and soon, myself as commander of the National Guard began to escort them, to ensure there would be no violence or uproar. Some were fearful that the people would assault versailles and take the king and queen, but but they demanded of the baker and the bakers wife this grain. I was concerned about violence, so i dismounted my white horse, mounted the balcony and there i kissed the hand of the queen to avert the violence. The Constitutional Monarchy was accepted. This remained for a bit of time, but not all of the 25 million frenchmen were content with the Constitutional Monarchy. In fact, many were in favor of a republic like you had here in america. So a change began to occur. For me, it would be on the 17th of july, 1791, where a mob of nearly 10,000 extreme leftists began signing a petition to remove the monarchy. They began to become violent. They killed some of my soldiers. I marched my soldiers in to disperse them and i dispersed them for a short time, but they returned, worse than before. As a result, my soldiers fired upon the mob, they were killing my Soldiers Left and right. In hindsight, it was the wrong decision. The next day, i had to resign my commission, as did the mayor of paris. Thus, change occurred more quickly than it had before. Soon, the palace at paris was stormed. The king and queen were arrested for crimes against the people, and they were sent to the national razor, madam guillotine, where all of france would be invaded because they did not want their monarchies to be removed, as the french monarchy had been removed. I found myself a french soldier, soon very unpopular in france, so i had to flee from france. I had crossed the border into belgium, and think of this the people of france thought i was the enemy of the revolution, and the people of austria thought i was the symbol of the revolution. So when i was captured by the austrian army, who at that time held belgium, they threw me in a series of prisons. From 1792 to 1797, i remained in prison. And i tried as secretary of state at the beginning of this to support your release. I did argue on before his excellency, general washington, that we might support the french revolution. I initially thought it was simply a civil war, and i used that term many times during those years in france before i left, but then shortly after, it was quite clear, it had become a revolution. Our influence and the success of our own, our constitution, was most obvious. Im afraid there was a great difference of opinion in the cabinet of president washington. While i encouraged the right of the french people to regain in their own revolution and also support your release from prison, i was thwarted in that effort by the secretary of the treasury, general hamilton. He was not alone, there were others. What had occurred was that a faction was not in favor of the french revolution. To this day, we continue to differ on that point. Understandably so, but i do not fault president washington for not assisting my country during the difficult times of the revolution. The reality was when all of europe declared war on france, had america aligned with france, they would in turn be at war with all of europe. At that point, you did not have an army, a navy of great strength. You did not have much money, so it is my fear that america would have been invaded at that time. It was my wife who voluntarily joined me in prison with two of of their own accord to support me. Eventually, because of the success of a young upstart general named bonaparte and his First Italian Campaign in 1796 and 1797, i would eventually be released. To answer your question, mademoiselle wagner, i was not permitted to return to france. Remain in holland before bonaparte would perform his coup detat and when he became master of france, i retired to private life for i did not agree with the direction he was taking france. Happily, you have returned to france. When i left in september of 1789 and later learned that, as you welcomed the parisian women and those who followed into the courtyard of versailles, and encouraged the royal family i say encouraged, not so much they wanted to go to leave the palace of versailles and follow you all back to paris he never returned. The royal family never returned to versailles, and i have never bee