Lafayette Pursues His Claim For Land Granted by Congress, Invoking Madison, Monroe

In April 1803, the huge Louisiana Territory was acquired by the United States from France, and Congress decided to reward Lafayette with a grant of land in gratitude for his service in the American Revolution. The in-debt Lafayette, appreciative of the gift and guided by his old friend, President Thomas Jefferson, sought a grant in New Orleans, where the culture was familiar and the land could be developed for quick profit. He appointed Armand Duplantier, owner of a local plantation and supposedly a savvy dealer in the local real estate market, to act as his agent in the distant city. This was a natural choice, as Duplantier had served as Lafayette’s aide-de-camp during the Revolution and had been in Louisiana since 1781. Duplantier was charged with locating and acquiring good and useful land. He first sought land in downtown New Orleans, but the city protested, and after four years of legal battles Lafayette had to give up that claim. Lafayette next obtained plantation land in the Pointe Coupee region, but here too Duplantier’s choice embroiled Lafayette in disputes and litigation. The land had been settled previously, but the owners were driven away by a flood in 1779. When Lafayette was given the land in 1810, the former owners and their descendants returned to contest the grant in court. But Lafayette continued to pursue his claim and expect a positive resolution, and he actively sought the assistance of his old friends of the Revolution who were now highly placed in the U.S. government – including the President and members of his Cabinet. And he was always looking for information on the status of the situation.

When this letter in pursuance of his claim was written, James Madison was President, James Monroe was Secretary of State and candidate for President in the 1816 election (which he would win), William Crawford was Secretary of War, Albert Gallitin was former Treasury Secretary and current U.S. Ambassador to France

Autograph Letter Signed, La Grange, August 25, 1816, sending materials needed for his claim and invoking the names of friends ostensively aiding him. “I have this day received your letter of the 20th and much regret the miscarriage of the package sent through the post office and directed Hotel De Montmorency Rue St. Mare. Whether the loss is to be attributed to want of attention in the Hotel or too much of it in the office, I do not pretend to decide. I have requested an inquiry to be made Rue St. Mare, but to save time I send you other copies. Those February 16, March 29, May 21. I beg you to return, as I have none left. You are sensible that the communications of Mr. Madison are of a private friendly nature. The substance of them, however, as far as I thought it proper, I have imparted to M. du Plantier, M. Lafin, M. Patry. Mr. Gallatin is of the opinion that the patent being of the same, our affair would be in a more advanced stage than the expositions of Mr. Madison seem to imply. I have again written the President, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Crawford. This letter shall be sent tomorrow. P.M. at the Paris Post Office to save one day. Wishing you a good journey, I am most truly my dear sir, yours, Lafayette.” Though the addressee is unknown, a docket on the verso in the hand of James Monroe states that this letter was found in President Madison’s papers, so it was delivered by the addressee to him. We would speculate that Monroe came upon the letter when he entered the White House in 1817 and looked through the work in the President’s “in box”.

Lafayette had all the right friends, but his claim presented those friends with a hornet’s nest of trouble in Louisiana, and his pleas probably sat in that in box indefinitely. Final resolution would have to wait until Lafayette had died; his heirs received a fraction of what the General had sought.