Lafayette and the Cayenne Experiment

Known as “The Hero of Two Worlds,” Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (Lafayette), was an aristocrat and soldier whose contributions were invaluable to both the American and French revolutions.  While mostly known for his skills on the battlefield and in diplomatic negotiation, Lafayette was also an abolitionist. 

Upon arriving in America in 1777, some of the first people Lafayette encountered were enslaved oystermen on the shores of South Carolina. During the war he advocated for Black regiments and became friends with John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, both known for their anti-slavery views. Some historians believe that it was his time with James Armistead, an enslaved man from South Carolina who served as Lafayette’s valet while he was in America that influenced his growing dedication to freedom. Lafayette believed that there were ways to end slavery, without it having an adverse economic impact. On February 5,1783, while in Spain he wrote George Washington,

“My dear General, My father, My Best friend…

Permit me to propose a plan to you Which Might Become Greatly Beneficial to the Black part of Mankind—Let us Unite in Purchasing a small Estate Where We May try the Experiment to free the Negroes, and Use them only as tenants—Such an Example as Yours Might Render it a General Practice, and if We succeed in America, I Will chearfully devote a part of My time to Render the Method fascionable in the West indias—if it Be a Wild scheme, I Had Rather Be Mad that Way, than to Be thought Wise on the other tack.”

Washington suggested they wait to discuss it in person, but Lafayette was determined to move forward immediately.

Once he arrived in France, he appealed to Louis XVI for support. His request was rejected. With neither Washington nor the King financially supporting the endeavor, Lafayette decided to bank roll the experiment completely on his own.

In 1786 Lafayette instructed his agent in Cayenne, present day French Guiana, to purchase two small sugar plantations.  He then converted them from growing sugar to growing clove and cinnamon, which did not require the back-breaking work that came with sugar production.

Lafayette planned to institute gradual manumission at his plantation,
La Belle Gabrielle. As part of the purchase, he acquired 70 enslaved people.  Under Lafayette’s ownership the enslaved were paid for their labor and schooling was provided. He also stipulated that the sale of any enslaved person was forbidden, and punishments were the same for all workers regardless of skin color. He believed that by employing these methods the enslaved would be more prepared for freedom. He also surmised that the birth rate would rise, and infant mortality would decrease under these more favorable conditions, thus negating the need for the slave trade.

Lafayette abhorred the slave trade.  He thought it illustrated the worst of mankind. In 1786 he wrote to John Adams,

“Whatever Be the Complexion of the Enslaved, it does not, in my opinion, Alter the Complexion of the Crime Which the Enslaver Commits, a Crime Much Blacker than Any African face.”

Just as Lafayette’s plans in Cayenne were taking off, something unanticipated happened: The French Revolution.

As Lafayette became more and more involved with the revolution, the operation of the plantation fell to his wife, Adrianne. She took great pride in the responsibility. She corresponded frequently with the estate managers and local priests who she had asked to oversee the religious education of the workers. She felt that educating them in reading, writing, and business math would prepare them for operating a plantation.

In 1792, Lafayette was imprisoned in Prussia and all his property was confiscated. Adrianne was put in a French prison in 1794. 

All the Black laborers on Lafayette’s plantation were resold into slavery.

However, Lafayette’s ideas did not die with the French Revolution.

Frances Wright was a Scottish-born playwright and activist.  Interested in independence and its ties to equality, Frances traveled to America in 1818.  Upon her return, she wrote about her time in the country and how it differed from Europe.  Her writing caught the eye of many reformers, including Lafayette. The two struck up a friendship and Lafayette invited Frances to reside with his family.

After staying with Lafayette in France for several months, Frances joined him on his tour of America in 1824. The relationship between the two was completely parental in nature; Lafayette finally had the pupil to carry on his work. However, as Frances traveled across the country, her views began to diverge from the General’s.  She whole-heartedly supported emancipation, and felt Lafayette needed to be less lenient with enslavers and should encourage the immediate eradication of slavery in the United States.

When Lafayette returned to France in the spring of 1825, Frances stayed in the United States. After spending time with Jefferson and visiting two utopian communities during her travels, she began to develop plans for an experimental farming community. 

In the fall of 1825, Frances traveled to Tennessee and purchased 320 acres along the Wolf River.  She named the community Nashoba, which is Chickasaw for wolf.  She purchased 30 enslaved people, with about half of them being children. Her plan was for the enslaved to acquire their freedom gradually through performing labor on the property. Over the next few years, the property grew to approximately 2,000 acres.  She raised funds to build cabins, farm buildings, and a school.

In short, she was attempting to replicate in the 1820s what Lafayette tried in the 1780s.

Unfortunately, Nashoba had problems right from the start. It was built of poor farmland and was in an area infested with mosquitos.  Frances contracted malaria in 1826 and went to Europe to recover.  While she was away the community began to decline. The interim managers she had appointed began to institute harsh punishments towards Black workers.  They also instituted a policy of “free love,” which promoted interracial relationships. This was scandalous and caused supporters of Frances to withdraw funds from Nashoba. When she returned in 1828 the community was in disarray and on the verge of financial collapse.

In 1830, Frances made the decision to shut down Nashoba.  But the story of Nashoba ends differently than that of La Belle Gabrielle. Frances was adamant that the Black residents of Nashoba not be enslaved.  She used her own funds to charter a ship to take them to Haiti.  Once there, she emancipated them. In total, the experiment at Nashoba cost Frances over $16,000, which is approximately $600,000 today.

While both Lafayette and Frances Wright were ultimately unsuccessful in their experiments to demonstrate that plantations did not need enslaved labor to survive economically, their ideas were revolutionary for their time! Each month during the 2026 commemoration of the American Revolution, we will be sharing stories of other figures from that period who were revolutionary.

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