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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was not promoted by User:SandyGeorgia 16:04, 4 November 2008 [1].

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette

[edit]
Nominator(s): Lazulilasher (talk)

I'm nominating this article for featured article because I feel it meets the FA criteria. I began working this article after the spotlight alerted WP:France that it would be the weekly collaboration. Lafayette's story always fascinated me, so I worked on expanding the content. I feel the article is ready after 2 months of work, an in-depth GA review, a peer review and a MILHIST A-class review.

The marquis de Lafayette was a fascinating character in the Age of Revolution. I hope you find the article worthy, and I await your comments. Lazulilasher (talk) 18:28, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • The lead states nothing about his life after his imprisonment in Austria. I got the impression that he died in prison, or died shortly after being released, from the lead. I had to read the article to discover otherwise. 204.193.198.179 (talk) 21:22, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments -

Otherwise sources look okay, links checked out withe link checker tool. Ealdgyth - Talk 12:53, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ok, source listed above 1-3 were removed and resourced to more reliable works. The 4th was written by Lafayette College archivist and published in their alumni magazine. I would consider it reliable, but if not I can go dig up something better; it may take a day, though. The Crooked Lake was removed and re-cited to Cloquet. The Crawford ref was fixed. Thanks Ealgdyth, Lazulilasher (talk) 14:59, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On the archivist, I'd really prefer to see something done by a historian at least, and it'd be better to have it by a historian in a historical journal. What we have now is someone writing outside their field and in an alumni magazine which isn't exactly a place you expect to see serious history being presented. Ealdgyth - Talk 15:12, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Point taken. Ok, rectified. Lazulilasher (talk) 15:31, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose
    • The treatment of the French Revolution is a mass of POV. In a page on the events of 1791-2, the words Legislative Assembly are never mentioned; we are left with the impression that Lafayette's arrest and that of his wife are the acts of a street mob, not of the elected legislature during a coup - or, perhaps, a civil war. (The solitary use of Assembly is calculated to confuse the reader; this is not the National Constituent Assembly of 1789-91.)
      • Furthermore, as mentioned below, the wrong party within the Assembly is mentioned.
      • The fundamental problem here is likely to be that one recent concise history of the French Revolution has been consulted, instead of the standard sources. It may well have been checked hastily; what editors do not understand, they cannot explain. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 15:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • A review of Lafayette's family which omits Madame de La Fayette is hardly comprehensive.
    • 25,000 livres ($30,000 in the 18th century). The date is 1770, two decades before the existence of United States currency; what is this supposed to mean, the piece of eight? More importantly, what is the conversion supposed to convey to the reader? In terms of purchasing power, this would be closer to $500,000 (2008).
    • Collating with ANB reveals that the problem with Lafayette's commission is that Deane's authority had been challenged; we should mention and explain this.
    • His return foiled Gates' plan to assume control of the army. His return to Albany, or to Pennsylvania from Albany? And in either case, how did the appearance of a single aide foil Gates' plan?
    • So what, if anything, did Lafayette do at Monmouth? If the answer is "not much", why spend a paragraph getting him there?
    • He initially viewed slaves as property and, after meeting with American spy James Armistead, urged their use as soldiers during the revolution. A misunderstanding; all proposals to arm slaves included their eventual emancipation, if only from military necessity.
      • Lafayette's promotion in 1783 to major-general in the French army is omitted.
    • In 1784 Lafayette returned to America, visited 11 states, ANB says ten. Maryland's grant of citizenship is omitted.
    • In 1789, Lafayette was elected to the Estates-General. In preparation, he worked with Thomas Jefferson on a document called the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen". He prepared a draft, one of several, of that Declaration; he consulted with Jefferson in the process. These do not add up to the assertion made here that Jefferson was the author of the Declaration.
    • The Estates General convened on 5 May 1789 and Lafayette was a member of the noble Second Estate. When King Louis XVI encountered difficulty with the Estates General, he closed the meeting room of the Third Estate, the vast majority of the people who were neither clergy nor aristocracy This confuses the Third Estate, which was the vast majority, with its deputies, some 600 men.
    • The next day in response to the dismissal of Finance Minister Jacques Necker, Camille Desmoulins organized an armed mob. In response, the Assembly authorized a National Guard, appointing Lafayette as commander and electing him vice-president of the Assembly. No mention of the royal army, under Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, outside Paris. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 15:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • On October 6, 1789, Lafayette intruded into the National Assembly in uniform, but alone; the resulting view of him as an ineffective Cromwell contributed non-trivially to his eventual fall. We should not, of course, adopt this as our PoV, but the occurence and consequences should be mentioned.
    • The Jacobins offered a reward for his capture or death....On September 1792 soldiers led by Jacobins arrested Lafayette's wife, Adrienne, but later released her. This is most unlikely. Jacobin does not equal revolutionary, and on August 19 and September 10, 1792, the Girondins were still in power; see Vergniaud. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 02:00, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • As chaos grew in France, Adrienne was again arrested by the Jacobins. Many negative descriptions of the Great Terror of the summer of 1794 are reasonable, but chaos and tyranny are clean different things. We are not entitled to any POV, least of all Burke's.
    • On 22 January 1795 Adrienne was released. The fall of Robespierre seems to be missing.
    • Adrienne lived in his cell with him and finally, in September 1797, after five years' imprisonment, Napoleon released the family. From their captivity at the hands of the Austrian government, which is not here stated. Try liberated. And while the status of the Treaty of Campo Formio is somewhat unusual, This was at the request of the Directory and as a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio drafted in 1797. does not describe it well.
    • Lafayette's effort to improve his estates when he was in internal exile under Napoleon is omitted.
    • In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor after a plebiscite in which Lafayette did not participate. So? Was this a risk, or not?
    • Lafayette's politics in 1834 should be explained.
    • Badly written:
      • In 1790, Lafayette renounced his claim to the nobility title. Not idiom.
      • Lafayette created a control point allowing a more orderly retreat. Jargon.
      • His return foiled Gates' plan to assume control of the army. Melodrama; where's "Curses" and "again"
      • The flank scattered, and Lafayette organised a retreat while the British remained indecisive. Armies are not indecisive; they may be stationary.
      • In 1784 Lafayette returned to America, visited 11 states, and provided the Congress with news of trade negotiations. Indiscriminate collection of information; this is two sentences rammed together.
      • In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor after a plebiscite in which Lafayette did not participate. Lafayette is the subject of this life: Lafayette did not participate in the plebiscite of 1804 approving Napoleon's coronation as Emperor.
  • As a minor annoyance, the article has been through a style war. It was originally in American English, with the American format for dates; both appropriate for an American major-general. The spelling was switched to British English, for no particular reason, and the dates to the international format. The spelling has been reverted, properly; Lafayette has strong national ties to the United States. Can we also switch the dates back to the format customary to the nationality most likely to be assigned reading about Lafayette? Septentrionalis PMAnderson 16:37, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ya, do whatever you want with the dates and spelling. I am a hobbyist, not an expert. I didn't know the sources I was using were so horribly POV. So, whatever...I was trying to summarize his involvement in the French Revolution, that's all. The goal was: provide a concise summary of Lafayette in the Revolution. I'll look these over, and see what I can do; it will be a few days, as I am without reliable internet access. Lazulilasher (talk) 17:18, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • A public library may be more helpful. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 23:14, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • One other suggestion, with which a public library will be particularly helpful: It is very useful to consult the lives of contemporaries of the subject. The scattered references to Lafayette in a life of Washington or Robespierre will tend to concentrate on the more notable incidents, and they will tend to present Lafayette as a human being, with a concrete political program, rather than as a hero (with a list of Plutarchian virtues) or a villain. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 01:52, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. I only read through the American Revolution sections, and I do not believe that the prose is quite ready for FA status. I've listed some examples below of issues with the prose, but that is not a comprehensive list.

  • A small MOS fix: In page ranges, often the last number is not abbreviated properly (for example 392 until 394 should be 392–4).
  • Do sources ever tell the full name of Madame de Chavaniac?
  • "on 24 April his grandfather died" - which grandfather?
  • May need to make it more clear in the article that Lafayette was part of his title, not his surname. The way it is presented in the lead confused me a bit and it is never addressed in the body of the article.
  • The prose in the Education and marriage section needs lots of work
    • "Through an arranged marriage he had his way with " - huh? This obviously doesn't mean what it sounds like to me...so what does it mean?
    • "their educations." - education is the plural - no s
    • What education was Marie Adrienne getting? Women didn't usually go to school in this time period
    • In what year were they "accidentally" introduced?
    • It is confusing that her father is first introduced at the duc de Noailles and then her mother later as the duchesse d'Ayen. I see from the article on the duke that he inherited the de Noailles title later, but readers shouldn't have to click the links to understand what is going on. Either this should be reworded, or a footnote added.
  • Is there any information on whether Lafayette was very interested in the military before his marriage, or did he join because he was expected to?
  • Was it unusual for a Marquis to take an active role in the military?
  • More issues with ambiguous prose:
    • " De Broglie invited the young Lafayette to join the Freemasons, for whom the American Revolutionary War had become an issue. When " - this doesn't say what "issue" the Freemasons took (could be interpreted as either for the colonists, for the British, or against any war at all), and implies that he was invited to join because the Freemasons did not like the war.
    • next sentence: "When the Duke of Gloucester, King George III's brother and colonial policy critic, travelled through the region, he was invited to dinner with de Broglie and his men" - he who? King George II, Duke of Gloucester and de Broglie and Lafayette are all potential antecedents when you first read "he" (although de Broglie is quickly eliminated)
    • "and colonial policy critic," - not sure what this means - did Gloucester disapprove of the British handling of the Americas or did he support the Americans in the revolution?
  • Is there any information on what experience Lafayette gained while in the French military before he joined the American cause?
  • All quotations need to be cited directly, even if that means that subsequent sentences have the same citation. For example the "friend and father" quote is not cited directly.
  • There are some comma issues in the article (too many or not enough depending on the sentence).
  • "created a control point" - I am not sure what this means
  • There is a lot of passive voice that would be changed to active voice. Active voice generally provides better prose. One of the most glaring to me was ""and was recommended for the command of a division in a letter to Congress on 1 November"
  • "General Howe led a further 6,000 soldiers" - can we get a full name and wikilink for Howe, please?
  • There are a lot of awkward prose constructions - (as an example) "Louis XVI, pleased with the soldier after Lafayette proposed schemes for attacking the British"
  • When he first went to America, he left a pregnant wife (1777). What happened to that baby? The first child to be mentioned was born in 1779
  • The return to France section seems a bit off. Lafayette went to France, then "received news" his wife had given birth to a son (but wasn't he in France already), then in March 1780 he "left Adrienne"....
  • Make sure verb tenses are consistent - in "After the revolution" skips from "visited' to "would address" and back to "visited"
  • I am confused about how he "formed views in the US that he later applied in France". It says that he viewed slaves as property but suddently apparently had an epiphany where he didn't think so anymore. Are there any details on how his time in American changed his views?
  • I wouldn't consider the Moland House website to be a reliable source. It is essentially self-published.
  • I also question the use of Valley Forge National Historical Park and Mountvernon.org. Surely that information is in one of the books?

Karanacs (talk) 18:54, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    • Ok, thanks for the good review Karanacs. I am going to attempt more of these tommorow. I don't know if I have enough time; regardless, all of this feeback will be good for improvement for the article. Thanks much. Lazulilasher (talk) 01:04, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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