The Caesar Rodney statue at Freedom Plaza is a bronze equestrian monument of the Delaware signer of the Declaration of Independence, installed by the National Park Service on April 25, 2026, as the centerpiece of a thirteen-statue display marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. The statue is on loan from the State of Delaware, sits on a $527,226 pedestal built through a no-bid contract modification, and is approved for display for no more than six months. Its reappearance in downtown Washington has revived the controversy that led Wilmington, Delaware, to remove it in June 2020: Rodney enslaved more than 200 people during his lifetime.
What Went Up at Freedom Plaza
The NPS completed the full installation on May 22, 2026, on Freedom Plaza, part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historical Site. The Rodney monument went up first, on April 25, with twelve life-size statues of Revolutionary War soldiers following over the next several weeks.1The Christian Post. Trump Admin Adorns Freedom Plaza With Revolutionary War Statues
The twelve soldier figures depict a deliberately varied group: Simon Knowles, a Continental Army enlistee who served from age fifteen; Caesar Glover, an enslaved African who fought with the Marblehead Men of Massachusetts; Joseph Warren, a physician and major general killed at Bunker Hill; Jude Hall, who escaped slavery to join the 3rd New Hampshire regiment; John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a pastor turned major general; James Armistead Lafayette, an enslaved double agent who infiltrated British headquarters; Samuel Whittemore, who fought British troops at age 78; Jack Sisson, an enslaved volunteer who led a raid to capture a British general; James Caldwell, a chaplain killed in 1781; Peter Salem, an emancipated man credited with killing Major John Pitcairn at Bunker Hill; Naphtali Daggett, a Yale professor who led students against British forces; and Salem Poor, a formerly enslaved man whose bravery at Bunker Hill prompted fourteen officers to petition Congress on his behalf.2National Park Service. 12 Soldiers of the Revolution Exhibition
The Department of the Interior described the project as an effort to “transform Freedom Plaza into a space of remembrance and reflection” that depicts the “full story” of the nation’s history, “including every triumph, every challenge, and every step towards a more perfect union.”3WJLA. Freedom Plaza DC Bronze Statues Caesar Rodney
Why the Rodney Statue Is Controversial
Caesar Rodney was a Delaware officer during the American Revolution best remembered for his overnight horseback ride to Philadelphia in July 1776, when he cast the deciding vote for Delaware’s delegation to approve the Declaration of Independence. He also enslaved hundreds of people during his lifetime.4NBC Washington. Statue of Founding Father Who Enslaved Hundreds Installed at Freedom Plaza
The equestrian statue stood in Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware, until June 2020, when the city removed it during the nationwide protests over racial injustice that followed the murder of George Floyd. Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki said at the time that the removal was intended to allow for an “overdue discussion about the public display of historical figures.”5Artforum. Trump Re-Erects Statue of Enslaver for 250th The statue was first stored in a facility in New Jersey and later moved to a storage location in New Castle County, Delaware, at a cost of thousands of dollars to taxpayers.6Delaware Public Media. Del. Lawmaker Looks to Bring Caesar Rodney Statue Out of Storage and Relocate to Kent County
In an October 2020 proclamation, Donald Trump condemned the removal as “the end result of an extreme anti-American historical revisionism.”5Artforum. Trump Re-Erects Statue of Enslaver for 250th Nearly six years later, that same statue reappeared on federal land two blocks from the White House.
Reactions from visitors at Freedom Plaza have run in both directions. One observer told reporters, “A story about America, right? Then be intentional, be responsible and tell the whole thing.”4NBC Washington. Statue of Founding Father Who Enslaved Hundreds Installed at Freedom Plaza
How the Statue Got Approved
The National Capital Planning Commission approved preliminary and final site development plans for the temporary Rodney installation on April 2, 2026, authorizing the NPS to display it for a period not to exceed six months.7NCPC. Temporary Statue Installation Project Synopsis The statue itself came to the NPS on loan from the State of Delaware.8NCPC. Temporary Statue Installation Submission Materials
That “temporary” classification matters. The Commemorative Works Act of 1986 requires congressional authorization for any new commemorative work on federal land administered by the NPS or the General Services Administration.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Commemorative Works Act, 40 U.S.C. Ch. 89 It also imposes a 25-year waiting period after an individual’s death and requires design approval from both the NCPC and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.10NCPC. Commemoration A 2003 amendment created a “Reserve” zone on the National Mall where no new memorials are permitted. Because the Freedom Plaza statues are classified as temporary installations capped at six months, they sidestepped the full congressional authorization process that a permanent commemorative work would require.
The Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum held that permanent monuments on public property generally constitute government speech, meaning the government can choose which monuments to display and which to reject without violating the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.11Cornell Law Institute. Government Speech Doctrine That doctrine gives federal officials wide latitude in choosing what goes up and what comes down, though it does not exempt those choices from other legal constraints.
The $527,226 Pedestal
The NPS spent $527,226 building the pedestal for the Rodney statue, nearly double the original government estimate of $286,549. Rather than seeking competitive bids for the pedestal work, the agency added it in January 2026 as a modification to an existing $7.1 million contract already held by Terra Site Constructors for the refurbishment of Freedom Plaza, citing the urgency of finishing in time for the 250th anniversary.12Mother Jones. Trump Resurrected the Statue of a Slave Owner. Its Pedestal Cost Taxpayers $527K
Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, called the administration’s use of urgency to bypass competitive bidding “atypical and unethical.”12Mother Jones. Trump Resurrected the Statue of a Slave Owner. Its Pedestal Cost Taxpayers $527K Federal contracting records show that the current potential value of the underlying Freedom Plaza beautification and fountain rehabilitation contract has risen to roughly $10.5 million.13HigherGov. Freedom Plaza Beautification and Fountain Rehabilitation Contract
The Executive Orders Behind the Installation
The Freedom Plaza display did not appear in isolation. It grew out of a series of executive orders on monuments issued during both Trump terms.
On June 26, 2020, Trump signed Executive Order 13933, “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence,” which directed the prosecution of individuals who damage monuments and authorized withholding federal grants from jurisdictions that fail to protect them.14Federal Register. Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence A week later, Executive Order 13934 mandated a “National Garden of American Heroes” and created an interagency task force chaired by the Secretary of the Interior.15UC Santa Barbara American Presidency Project. Executive Order 13934 – Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes
The Biden administration revoked EO 13933 in May 2021. Trump reinstated it in January 2025 and, on March 27, 2025, signed a new order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” That order directs the Secretary of the Interior to identify any monuments removed or altered on federal land since January 1, 2020, and to reinstate them if their removal was found to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history” or reflect “improper partisan ideology.” It also requires that monuments under Interior Department jurisdiction “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”16The White House. Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History The Rodney installation is one of the most visible products of that directive.
Other Statues Reinstalled Under the Same Policy
The Rodney monument is not the only statue the administration has moved to bring back. In August 2025, the NPS announced plans to restore and reinstall a bronze statue of Confederate General Albert Pike on federal land near Judiciary Square in Washington. Protesters had toppled and burned the statue on June 19, 2020. The NPS set an October 2025 target for completion, stating that the action aligned with federal historic preservation law and the March 2025 executive orders.17ABC News. National Park Service to Reinstall Confederate Statue in Washington DC Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton called the reinstallation “odd and indefensible” and said she would reintroduce legislation to permanently remove the statue and send it to a museum.18Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton Announces Legislation After NPS Decision to Reinstall Confederate Statue of Albert Pike
In March 2026, a 13-foot replica of a Christopher Columbus statue was installed overnight on White House grounds in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The original had been toppled and thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on July 4, 2020. A Maryland artist used retrieved fragments to build the replica, and the placement was facilitated through a partnership between the Trump administration and the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations.19CNN. Christopher Columbus Statue Installed on White House Grounds White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the administration was “proud to honor Christopher Columbus’s legendary life and legacy.”20USA Today. Christopher Columbus Statue Replica Placed on White House Grounds
The National Garden of American Heroes
In May 2026, Trump announced plans for a “National Garden of American Heroes” in West Potomac Park, near the National Mall. The project envisions 250 life-size statues of notable Americans, including George Washington, Ronald Reagan, Amelia Earhart, Elvis Presley, Kobe Bryant, and Dr. Seuss, along with formal gardens, reflecting pools, dining facilities, an amphitheater, and a “Heroes Walk.”21The New York Times. Trump Garden of Heroes Statues The federal government is offering awards of up to $200,000 per statue to artists. Congress approved $40 million for the project, though internal administration estimates suggest the statues alone could exceed that figure.22ABC News. New Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Planned National Garden of American Heroes
Unlike the Freedom Plaza display, the Garden would be a permanent addition, and it faces a legal challenge on that basis. On June 15, 2026, a coalition of six preservation and cultural heritage organizations filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that the administration has ignored congressionally mandated procedures and that the Commemorative Works Act prohibits new commemorative works within the “great cross-axis of the Mall,” an area that encompasses West Potomac Park. The complaint characterizes the National Mall as a “substantially completed work of civic art.”22ABC News. New Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Planned National Garden of American Heroes
The Freedom Plaza statues, temporary and capped at six months, are not the subject of that lawsuit. What happens to the Rodney monument once the NCPC’s six-month authorization runs out has not been publicly settled.