Introduction: The Key

Abstract

In the summer of 1790, while serving as first president of the United States in New York, George Washington received a letter and two gifts from Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Moitier Marquis de Lafayette, his close friend and fellow veteran of the American Revolution. That Lafayette would send Washington a gift seemed fairly ordinary, as the two enjoyed a close relationship. Lafayette had arrived in America from France in 1777 as a passionate volunteer to help the American colonists in their war for independence from the Britain. Only 19 years old at the time, the French nobleman had willingly left his expecting wife, young daughter, and pampered lifestyle in order to volunteer as a common soldier under the command of General Washington. Washington had taken notice of this French adventurer, and even appointed Lafayette as his aide-de-camp, or personal aid. By the end of the war, Lafayette considered Washington as an adoptive father, and Washington likewise saw Lafayette as his own son. As a sign of his affection, Lafayette had even named his heir ‘George Washington Lafayette,’ and the two friends corresponded frequently.