Last week, the Trump Administration took down historical panels outside the Presidents’ House in Philadelphia that referred to slavery. The house was lived in by George Washington and John Adams. The signs commemorated the nine slaves owned by George Washington who worked there. They also interpreted slavery for the public by explaining the the economic and legal impact of the “institution” during the early years of the Republic. Judge Cynthia M. Rufe of the Federal District Court was extremely questioning about what the Trump administration had done. She is a Republican judge.
While the National Park Service has been sparing in its words defending the removal of the panels, many historians believe that the Park Service is following Donald Trump’s executive order to take down signage that could be interpreted as critical of the United States and its leaders.
In court the lawyer for the administration said that reasonable people could disagree over whether slavery should be mentioned at a place connected to George Washington. The judge said that making “changes on the whim of someone in charge” is “horrifying to listen to…I’m sorry, that’s not what we elected anybody for.”
The lawyer for the president, Gregory in den Berken, said that the president had the authority to change the story of the house. Rufe responded that “it’s frightening to think that could happen to Independence Hall tomorrow.”
The judge decided to wait to issue an order to replace the panels. She said she will inspect the panels on Monday. She also got the government to agree that no further changes will be made to the site until she makes her decision. Judge Rufe said that if the government would not agree, she would issue her order immeadiately.
According to the New York Times, there are internal memos at the National Park Service that are based on order from the Trump administration to take down other panels throughout Independence National Park that refer to slavery. They want to have signage taken down at the Liberty Bell exhibit that says that it got its name from Abolitionists who were fighting slavery.
According to the New York Times:
On Friday, Judge Rufe compared removing the stories of [Washington’s slaves] Ms. Judge and Mr. Posey from the site to removing a monument to U.S. soldiers who liberated a Nazi death camp.
“What if they just decided to tear down that monument like it didn’t happen?” she said. “You can’t erase history once you’ve learned it. It doesn’t work that way.”
Note: The photo on top shows the Presidents’ House after the historical panels were removed. It appeared in the New York Times.
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