François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

François XII. Alexandre Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld - Liancourt ( born January 11, 1747 in La Roche- Guyon, † March 27, 1827 in Paris) was a French duke, politicians, social reformers and entrepreneurs.

Early years

He was the son of François -Armand de la Rochefoucauld de Roye, duc d' Estissac. After school he served in the Royal Army. He married in 1764 Félicité Sophie de Lannion. First, as Comte de Rochefoucauld known, he was allowed to call 1765 the Duc de Liancourt. During his Grand Tour, he visited 1765-1766 Italy. He visited England in 1769 and studied the local agricultural methods. Near his castle in Yvelines, he then built on an agricultural economy pattern. He founded a vocational school in Chalons. From this later went the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers forth.

Rochefoucauld - Liancourt was Colonel since 1770 and owner of the " Régiment de La Rochefoucauld - Dragons ". In 1781 he became brigadier of Armées du roi a dragoon unit. He was also a Knight of the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint- Louis. After the death of his father he became Duc d' Estissac. Like his father, he served at the court of the office of Grand Master of the Royal Wardrobe. He accompanied Louis XVI. 1786 on his trip to Cherbourg.

French Revolution

It was during the 1780s guest various salons in Paris and was a member of the political discussion among the group of thirty. In 1789 he was elected representative of the nobility of Clermont -en- Beauvaisis in the Estates General. He was there to the group of liberal aristocrats. He joined in June 1789, however, at first nothing to the camp of the Third Estate over. He argued that he would need to change in the Constituent Assembly a new mandate.

In July, he was as an intermediary between the National Assembly and Louis XVI. active. He has informed the king about the storming of the Bastille. To the remark of the king. "But this is a revolt ," he said to have replied: "No Sire, this is a revolution. " In fact, this dialogue has probably not occurred, or it is not verifiable.

Later Rochefoucauld - Liancourt was still a member of the National Assembly and was its president from time to time. He called for a royal veto. It dealt mainly with reforms of internal administration, finance and the police. He had on August 4 large share in the decision set aside the feudal system. Later he cared mainly about social issues and wrote for the respective Committees reports on the hospital or Armenswesen. He campaigned for reforms in the prison system and the abolition of the death penalty.

After the failed flight of the king to Varennes, he noticed that the one thing still missing in the revolution, freedom from the king was. He belonged to the club in 1789, and later the Jacobin Club, and then the Feuillants. In 1791 he purchased near his castle on a large scale national property of monastic property.

Exile, Empire and Restoration

After August 10, 1792, his cousin Louis -Alexandre La Rochefoucauld had been murdered in the course of the Tuileries, he went into exile in Britain. Since then he has also introduced the title of Duc de Rochefoucauld. Between 1794 and 1797 he toured the United States and Canada. There he observed exactly the local economic life, the political structures and welfare facilities. He also published a description in six volumes.

After the coup of 18 Brumaire, he returned to France. Although Napoleon undertook various efforts to pull him to her, he has accepted no office. Only the inclusion in the Legion of Honor, he accepted. Instead, he tried to put into practice the experiences from his travels. He had lost through expropriation during the Revolution His own possession. However, it remained the property of his wife, who had separated from him only in appearance. On this he built large Baumwollgarnspinnereien on the English model. He led in France and the vaccination against smallpox. During the reign of one hundred days he was a deputy. After the Restoration he was a member of the Chamber of Peers. He was a member in 1816, a commission for the hospital system. He was also in the club for Christian morality actively campaigned for the abolition of slavery and held various other offices held. Because of his liberal views, he lost these items again. He founded the first savings bank in France. This was the starting point of the Groupe Caisse d' Epargne. He subsequently published several magazines and was named for the Academy of Sciences.