For this assignment I chose to examine the letter written by 5 Lafayette students to tell the Marquis de Lafayette that he had been elected to become a member of the Franklin literary society. This letter was written in 1832, 2 years before Lafayette’s death. Although a response from the Marquis was never received, we do know that this letter arrived at his home in France.
Within the first moments of looking at this letter, I could immediately tell that great thought and effort had been put into the calligraphy of this letter and its’ presentation. The words were beautifully written on nice parchment paper. Clearly the students chose only the best to send to their institution’s namesake. In their letter, these 5 students who were current members of the Franklin literary society explicitly state that they would like the Marquis to become a member of their society. These 5 students who wrote the letter to Lafayette were white males who came from Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.
One of the reasons why I was immediately drawn to this artifact was because it was students of Lafayette College, like myself, who were able to write a letter to a man who had a considerable impact not only on our college, but on our country as well. I found this letter to be powerful because these students are honoring a man who was kind, supportive and fought for equality in a time where that was not many people’s priority. To see that other young men were looking up to him, following in his footsteps resounded with me. Although these students only intended for Lafayette’s eyes to see this letter, the message that is in it can be applied to every Lafayette student, past and present.
When looking closely at this letter, we can see the excitement in the air in the United States while the country was still young and new. These students were well aware of the role that the Marquis had in America’s fight for freedom. By reading this letter, we can gain a general understanding of America’s youth during the early years of our nation. Although we can use this source to look at our society during this time period, it is difficult to do because this letter focuses on such a small group. The limitations that are presented in letters such as these is that we have no way in knowing what Lafayette’s response was, or why they chose to write to him at that time.
It is imperative that this source continues to be preserved because it is a physical artifact that links us the past to a man whose name we try to live up to. Another reason why I found this letter so interesting is because it shows Lafayette’s true character, one that is benevolent, devoted and philanthropic. Although this can tell us about the other elites of his time, Marquis de Lafayette was different than most of the men of his time. This attests even further to the dignity and honor of Lafayette, thus stressing the importance of the preservation of this letter. This source is being preserved so that 185 years later, and further on into the future, we can remember Marquis de Lafayette and all that he stood for so that we can look up him and act with honor and dignity just as he did.
After reading the letter written to Marquis de Lafayette by these Lafayette students, I saw connections between what the students wrote to Lafayette and what Paul Connerton wrote in his piece How Societies Remember. Connerton discusses how groups operate within history and the ways in which they access, retrieve and practice their past. I believe that this letter is one way that Lafayette students are trying practice the traditions of their past. By reliving the Marquis’ actions and honoring what he did for our country I believe Connerton would agree with the statement that this is a way to perform the memories of our past.
I enjoyed working on this assignment. I believe that this is a great way to connect the present to the past, especially to a meaningful time in the college’s history. I found that reading the letter written to Lafayette was very moving and powerful, to see that our college’s benefactor had such an admirable character. Reading this letter made me proud to be a Lafayette student and challenged me to live up to the standards of Marquis de Lafayette.