Revolutionary Brothers by Tom Chaffin

Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship that Helped Forge Two Nations
by Tom Chaffin
St. Martin’s Press

Over the past two centuries, there have been no shortage of books discussing the various and sundry associations, friendships, enmities, and collaborations that helped “define” America in its time of revolution. Indeed, today’s history reader could be excused for feeling weary of yet another book purporting to tell it from a new, fresh angle. After all, what else is there to say about founding fathers and revolutionary brothers-in-arms?

Apparently, quite a bit. In Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship that Helped Forge Two Nations, historian Tom Chaffin takes a heartfelt look at two men who were oversized in their respective nation’s eyes, and in each another’s.

In his own words, Revolutionary Brothers is the “first sustained account of the Jefferson-Lafayette friendship and collaboration…” While not meant as a dual biography of the men or their respective revolutions, Chaffin instead follows one lifelong friendship forged in the furnace of America’s quest for independence and continues it all the way through and past the chaos of the French Revolution. The narrative unfolds in vignettes and short chapters that leap back and forth between Jefferson and Lafayette, depicting the highs and lows of their lives in the larger frame of a shared revolutionary experience.

For both Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette, the American Revolution provided a launching board for their future renown and acclaim. Jefferson, 14 years older than Lafayette, struggled early in the Revolutionary War as the beleaguered governor of Virginia, while Lafayette charmed and ingratiated himself into Gen. George Washington’s inner circle. He soon proved himself capable of leading men in battle and was promoted to larger field commands that took him south into the orbit of Jefferson in 1781. Here, the first direct letters between the two are recorded, mostly dealing with military and civil matters. So, when did this vaunted friendship begin in earnest?

It was not until 1785, during Jefferson’s five-year posting in Paris as a U.S. diplomat, that the two men’s friendship fully blossomed. Jefferson and Lafayette were never far from one another’s minds and hearts as they continued to correspond regularly in their very full political lives, working to inculcate republicanism in their respective countries. Admiring the model of government that America was establishing for itself, Lafayette would often turn to Jefferson for advice on the best form of government for his own country—which by the mid-to-late 1780s was experiencing civil and social unrest under the Bourbon monarchy of King Louis XVI.

As Chaffin makes clear in the book, Lafayette, while feted in America, never quite received the type of love and admiration he desired at home. His initial star rose in the early days of the French Revolution, when he was named the commander of the new National Guard in 1789. Indeed, he prepared to defend his beloved homeland against the Austrian and Prussian armies mobilizing along France’s border, in anticipation of restoring Louis XVI to his throne. The Reign of Terror, however, would soon put an end to his rising career in a republican France, as he dared defied the wrath of the Jacobins. Crossing enemy lines to escape the guillotine, Lafayette was imprisoned in Prussia for five years, along with his family. His friends in America never forgot him and sought unsuccessfully for years to secure his release.

Chaffin takes the reader on a stirring and adventurous romp through both revolutionary America and France in Revolutionary Brothers. Indeed, the subtitle is almost too limiting, as the book could aptly be described as the “many friendships” of Lafayette. While it is true, as Chaffin shows, that Jefferson shared a special bond with Lafayette—best explained by his innate Francophilia—it is also true that many of America’s Founding Fathers all shared a deep affection for the Marquis. It is no coincidence, Chaffin points out, that “the United States virtually teems with places that bear Lafayette’s name—parks, schools, streets, squares, towns, and counties.”

The friendship of Jefferson and Lafayette represented the fraternity of two nations, one young and one old. In 1824, they reunited at Monticello after 35 years apart; Lafayette was 67 and Jefferson, 81. Their love had not dimmed in the slightest, however, as the two world-weary men embraced and wept with joy. It was a tender and poignant moment, in many ways symbolizing American affection and gratitude for France and its martial “Hero of Two Worlds,” who stood by the fledgling nation in war and peace, receiving the adulation and loyalty of generations of Americans to come in return.

Revolutionary Brothers is a rewarding read that lifts the curtain on a rich cast of characters on a larger than life stage, and Chaffin skillfully captures the tumult, passion, and convictions of these men and women, American and French, patriots all.

—Peggy Kurkowski holds a BA in History from American Public University and is a copywriter living in Denver, Colorado