French Personalities

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier (de Lafayette)

1771-1773: Second Lieutenant in the French Army
1773-1775: Lieutenant in the French Army
1775-1777: Captain in the French Army
1776-1779; 1780-1781: Major-General of the Continental Army
1781-1789: Maréchal de camp of the French Army
1789-1790: Commandant of the Paris National Guard
1790-1791: Commandant-General of the French National Guard
1791-1792: Commanding General of the Army of the Center
1792-1792: Commanding General of the Army of the North
1792-1802: Prisoner of the Austrian Army

-release secured by end of War of the French Revolution (1792-1804) with Austria

1802-1824: Conservator of the French Republic

-though unhappy with path of French Republic regards it as suitable enough

-made Conservator against his will though

-makes his name known as an opponent of Sieyesian order

-and becomes very well-known as this

1824-1832: Grand Elector of France

-elected purely because he's the best-known opposition figure during crisis of Second French War (1821-32)

-leaves governance entirely to others and is content to serve as figurehead

-Heads of France > 1824-1836 Bernard-Francois de Chauvelin (Coppetard) † has real power in France and everyone knows it

-and frankly many untrust him

-with beginning of treaty negotiations to end the war decides to leave office

-to set a precedent Washington-style

-Conservators absorb him

1832-1836: Conservator of the French Republic

-doesn't do a whole lot except observe

-last thing he does in his life is travel across the United States from 1833 to 1835

-offer extended in 1824 but then comes crisis then he becomes Grand Elector so he delays till now

-despite elderly age is quite vigorous

-greets American Presidents > 1829-1837 Henry Clay (Republican, then National Republican)

-becomes symbolic of transition between generation of independence and generation of Clay and Webster

-dies soon after returning to France in 1836

-widely mourned across the nation