Lafayette and the Somewhat United States (2015)
4 Stars out of 5
Sarah Vowell
274 pages
Sarah Vowell has carved a niche for herself in the history
section of your local bookstore. With previous books such as “The Wordy
Shipmates” (2008) or “Unfamiliar Fishes” (2011), this former NPR editor has
shown she is more than capable of blending her snarky/comical vision of
American History interpretation with a liberal dose of commentary on the events
she summarizes for her readers. In the case of “The Wordy Shipmates”, she
described the history of Puritans in 17th century Massachusetts,
while in “Unfamiliar Fishes” she weaved a tale of late 19th century American
imperialism in the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii. Now with 2015’s “Lafayette and
the Somewhat United States” she builds a story about one of America’s ardent early
supporters, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier, aka the Marquis de
Lafayette.
The Marquis was a wealthy, recently orphaned, and newly
married nineteen year old hungry for glory when he reached America in 1777. He
left France with a coterie of like-minded Frenchmen looking to take part in
military actions – partly to fight against the country long considered their
most determined foe, Great Britain, but also because many of them were
unemployed military veterans languishing during an unusual peacetime. Not so
with the Marquis, he was the quintessential adolescent male, eager for
adventure, lacking in experience, but full of idealism. He reached America at a
time when the American congress and their Continental Army were awash with a
rich variety of European soldiers and adventurers seeking employment and
expecting to walk right into leadership positions within the American army.
George Washington, many of his American staff and congress were largely fed up
with the whole problem by the time Lafayette arrived. Somehow, his youthful
enthusiasm and his connections within the government of Louis XVI made him a
party apart from so many of his fellow Europeans. He was appointed a major-general,
one without a single soldier reporting to him, and placed on George Washington’s
staff. While this was surely not the exact reaction Lafayette had hoped for,
his close proximity to Washington allowed him to forge a lifelong friendship
with a man destined to become a singular American icon.
Lafayette would after about six months on Washington’s staff
be finally allowed to lead a small party into combat at the Battle of
Brandywine where he would receive a leg wound from an enemy gunshot. Much later
he would play a role in helping to corral the English general Cornwallis at
Yorktown in 1781. What took place between his initial exposure to battle and
his final military participation in the American Revolution is where Lafayette
really earned his place in American history. Partly because of his enthusiasm
for the American cause and because of his connections to the power brokers in
the French government, Lafayette was able to lobby the French government for
the Americans (alongside Benjamin Franklin and fellow Frenchman, the French
Foreign Minister, Charles, comte de Vergennes). Despite his military
performances for the Americans at Brandywine, the battle of Rhode Island and
the siege of Yorktown, likely Lafayette’s most significant contribution to the
American revolution was the role he played in convincing Louis XVI into sending
a significant amount of French naval and army forces to America, to recognizing
the American revolutionary government, and to lending millions of Francs to the
Americans; and after the war, not done yet, he worked with Thomas Jefferson to
establish trade agreements between France and the United States. It is
abundantly clear; the likelihood of success for the Americans as they sought
their freedom from the English without the French would have been exceedingly
low.
As one reads through Vowell’s narration of events, the
reader may find themselves as I did murmuring to themselves, “I didn’t know
that”. Vowell reviews some of the military battles that took place during the
War for Independence, but she really doesn’t spend much time on the battles and
only a little more time on the back door attempts to persuade Louis XVI to
essentially bankrupt his country in an attempt to help the Americans and hurt
the British. (Indeed, it is probable that Louis’ efforts for the Americans led
in part to his dethroning in 1792, a mere nine years after the 1783 Treaty of
Paris granting the Americans their independence from the English.) No, most of
the appeal of Vowell’s writing in general and in “Lafayette and the Somewhat
United States” in particular lies with her humorous digressions. She is as
likely to spend as much time writing of her discussions with the violence-abhorring
Quakers that own the land where one of Lafayette’s memorials sits, as she is in
discussing what battle the memorial commemorates. That Vowell feels a
philosophical kinship to the Quakers is made clear in this book and in some of
her previous writing as well.
Another big strength of her work is the manner in which her
digressions from the main themes of the American Revolution veer into
directions that help de-mythologize the various fathers of that revolution.
With few exceptions (Aaron Burr and Benedict Arnold are standouts) primary
actors in the formative years of the United States are generally regarded by
modern Americans as being faultless. Vowell gives examples of Washington’s
temper, of the back-biting and self-serving efforts of several people to
displace Washington as commander-in-chief to not only replace him, but to
replace him with their own illustrious selves (General Horatio Lloyd Gates in
particular, but not uniquely). Or even more amusingly, the grumbling and
complaining that came out of the Congress while they were forced to bunk two or
more to a room in York after abandoning their early capitol of Philadelphia to
the British. Their carping to Washington about losing Philadelphia almost seems
to be as focused on their new living arrangements as to Washington’s abilities
as commander-in-chief.
In short, this is a highly readable and amusing review of
events during the American Revolutionary war against Great Britain. Vowell
moves through the many of the primary events in a brisk manner and brings a
very curious set of eyes to those events with respect to the manner in which
she describes the main actors and their motivations. If there is a weakness to
her writing, at least in this book, then it is that there are sections where
Vowell ventures so far afield from the central subject material, you may find
yourself wondering what became of the Marquis. However, if you have an interest
in the American Revolution, are curious to learn more about the Marquis de
Lafayette and the role he played in that revolution, and would like this whole
tale served up with a vigorous infusion of satirical commentary, then this
could be your book. It was for me the third such book by Sarah Vowell I’ve
read, and I have more than enough reason to read her next book based on my
experience with this particular foray into American history.
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