Lafayette wasn't the only Frenchman in the Continental army, there was also Rochambeau I believe.
France's support of the Americn Revolution both militarily and financially also helped to bankrupt the French monarchy and put the country closer to a revolution of its own.
The French Revolution was certainly infuenced by the American revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the French consitutution was patterned roughly on the US Constitution. But ironically, in France, the Revolutionary government became even more tyrannical than the monarchy. France underwent a period of the Reign of Terror under Robbespierre and France declared war on nearly all the countries in Europe. France was at war with Prussia, Austria, Spain, the Neatherlands, Russia, Britain, The kingdom of Sardinia. Its pretty amazing that France managed to defeat all of them inspite of the country's internal turmoil. A young artillery officer (Napoleon) finally became head of the government and the French breathed a sigh of relief because they thought peace has finally arrived and the Revolution's reign of terror had finally ended. Well Napoleon did end the Revolution, but he continued the wars that the Revolutionary government had been fighting and took command of the fanatical French Army, still gloating from their victories over the Austrians, Prussians, Russians, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and British. It was the strongest, most battle hardened army in Europe, and became even more dangerous in the hands of Napoleon.
Moral of the story is, be careful about regime changes, because the regime that replaces it could be even worst than the last.
