The United States is engaged in a debate—some say a battle—over the meaning and import of its history. D.C.’s recent foray into that standoff both illuminates its contours and demonstrates why so many Americans are up in arms.
D.C.’s clarifying contribution comes from a committee formed by Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, which this week recommended removing, renaming or contextualizing dozens of schools, parks, monuments and other facilities bearing the names of historical figures.
This report shows how little many on the left think about U.S. history. It’s true that many of our nation’s most eminent Founders held racial prejudice. It’s also true that there was no country at that time free from prejudice and bigotry.
By the context of its time, the United States was the most progressive country in the world, establishing freedom of religion and proclaiming an ideal of universal human rights when essentially every other nation was either a monarchy, tribal tyranny or theocracy. This is why most Americans are proud of their history, not ashamed of it.
Polls clearly show that this pride is widely shared across political cleavages. Fully 63 percent of Americans told a recent Fox News poll that they see America’s Founders as heroes; only 15 percent said they were villains.
Democrats said the Founders were heroes rather than villains by a 50-23 margin, and Black respondents said they were villains rather than heroes by only a 39-31 margin. It’s clear that most Americans see the founding generation for what it was: a noble and courageous group of men and women.
The Founders and many who followed them were flawed. But that’s true of all people.
That doesn’t mean nothing can or should be done to fully address our past. Tours of Washington’s home at Mount Vernon and Jefferson’s home at Monticello now include discussions about the experiences of the enslaved people who built those landmarks. This is appropriate, as trained guides for most tours have time to discuss at length the good and the bad each man did. Such contextualization is difficult, if not impossible, when it comes to buildings named for the men or monuments honoring them.
Nations always change if they are to survive. Successful and peaceful changes always make room for old understandings as they make way for new ones. D.C.’s recommendations would sweep away too much of the old in their pursuit of the new America. Let’s hope others can advance more balanced and unifying alternatives.
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Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.