Person

Marquis de Lafayette

French officer who fought in the American Revolution, commanded the Paris militia in 1789 and sent the key of the Bastille to Washington.

4 links, 3 backed by primary records. 8 more in open data

Connections 4

Key to the Bastille Jul 1789 Primary record 1
The editors write "supposedly" of how the key came to him.

Estates-General of 1789 delegate in 1789; later forced out of his army command and fled to avoid arrest Scholarship & press 2

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson asked Jefferson for his draft back with notes Primary record 3

Lafayette's draft declaration of rights (1789) 11 Jul 1789 Primary record 3
Lafayette presented a draft declaration of rights to the National Assembly on 11 July 1789.

Timeline 2 dates

Proof 3 sources

To George Washington from Lafayette, 17 March 1790, National Archives, Founders Online, 17 Mar 1790. Primary record Archived copy
The key sent by Lafayette to GW was the main key to the Bastille, supposedly carried from the Bastille to the Paris town hall after the fall of the prison on 14 July 1789 and there presented to Lafayette.
Mr. de Lafayette, Commander of the Paris National Guard, Receives the City's 'Sword for the Defense of Liberty', Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (George Mason University) and American Social History Project (CUNY). Scholarship & press
he became a delegate in the Estates–General, head of the National Guard
he was forced out of his general’s command, and he fled to avoid arrest.
Lafayette's Draft of a Declaration of Rights, June 1789 (Papers of Thomas Jefferson, with editorial note), National Archives, Founders Online, 1789. Primary record Archived copy
Lafayette consulted TJ in its preparation and, as he was about to introduce it, specifically asked TJ for “the Bill of Rights with your Notes
This text represents an intermediate state of Lafayette’s proposed declaration of rights between that transmitted by TJ to Madison on 12 Jan. 1789 and that presented by Lafayette to the National Assembly on 11 July 1789.

Page history 1 change