Why Should Delaware Care?
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, the legacy of contentious Revolutionary War era Delaware figure and slaveholder Caesar Rodney once again comes into view. Six years after a Rodney statue was taken down in Wilmington during a national era of racial reckoning, Delawareans still have a range of beliefs about how Rodney’s legacy should be interpreted, and what should be done with his statue.
A statue of one of Delaware’s most controversial Revolutionary figures is on display in Washington for America’s 250th birthday, after spending the past six years in storage.
As time ticks until Caesar Rodney’s return to Delaware following the Fourth of July celebration in D.C., state leaders still are not sure what should be done with the statue of his likeness, and, more broadly, how to reckon with Rodney’s complicated legacy as Founding Father and a slaveowner.
Rodney is most famous for trekking 80 miles from his Dover home up to Independence Hall in Philadelphia to cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776.
But he also enslaved at least two dozen people throughout his lifetime on his family’s Kent County farm, known as Byfield.
A number of prominent Delaware establishments are named for Rodney, including Wilmington’s main public square, a Kent County school district and a conservative public policy think tank.
Defenders of Rodney say he deserves to be recognized for his contributions to the nation and the state — in addition to being a delegate to the Continental Congress, Rodney also served as governor and a state Supreme Court justice. They say the past cannot be erased by hiding the statesman from public view.
“Any person of influence had slaves,” said Delaware Republican Party Treasurer Brandon Brice, who has been an advocate for reinstalling the statue. “There’s a good, a bad, and an ugly to history, and I think if we’re going to tell history, we have to tell all of history.”
But, in a state where about one in four residents are Black, others are skeptical as to whether substantive conversations about Rodney’s slave-owning past ever took place, and some question whether he really is a Delaware figure who should be highlighted.
“I don’t think the people’s voice has changed because conditions haven’t changed, history hasn’t changed,” said Hanifa Shabazz, who was the Wilmington City Council president when the statue was taken down in 2020.
The statue of the man was taken down from Wilmington’s Rodney Square in 2020, during national protests over the police killing of George Floyd. When then-Mayor Mike Purzycki made the decision to remove the statue, he promised that an “overdue discussion about the public display of historical figures and events” would take place.
Community leaders say they have had plenty of informal conversations since 2020 about Rodney’s legacy and representation in Delaware.
But when asked by Spotlight Delaware, Wilmington city and state officials could not provide specific examples of any formal discussions about Rodney that have taken place.
Gov. Matt Meyer’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his thoughts on the statue.
There has also been a push in recent months by a group of Wilmington residents to reinstall a statue of Christopher Columbus, which was simultaneously taken down in 2020.
Rodney’s complicated history
Some facts about Rodney’s biography – including his personal beliefs about slavery, and his famous ride to Philadelphia – are debated by scholars.
Rodney lived his whole life at Byfield, an 800-acre Kent County farm owned by his family, and held a number of political positions both in Delaware and in the Continental Congress.
The commonly told story is that Rodney heroically rode the 80 miles from Delaware to Pennsylvania on horseback, through a thunderstorm, to arrive in Philadelphia in time to cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence.
However, historians now say it is more likely that Rodney did most of the ride up to Independence Hall in a covered carriage, because he was battling facial cancer.
And undoubtedly more controversial than how Rodney got to Philadelphia is a dispute over how many people Rodney enslaved, and his views on the institution of slavery.
It has been widely reported, including in the Delaware Public Archives, that Rodney owned more than 200 slaves.
A recently completed research report on Rodney’s slave-owning past commissioned by Wilmington Mayor John Carney and obtained by Spotlight Delaware, however, estimates that Rodney enslaved at least 26 people during his lifetime.
Some Delawareans also have argued that Rodney was an early abolitionist. One such individual is Charlie Copeland, former chair of the state Republican Party and director of the namesake think tank, the Caesar Rodney Institute.
Copeland cited a proposal Rodney made to the Delaware legislature in 1767 that they forbid the importation of more slaves into the province as evidence of his beliefs.
Both the report initiated by Carney’s office and Delaware historian Dick Carter, however, say they would not go so far as to call Rodney an abolitionist.
Carter told Spotlight Delaware Rodney’s view of slavery was “sufficiently complex,” but he does not believe Rodney was “a strong supporter of the institution of slavery.”
A semiquincentennial reenactment
Adding to the conversation surrounding one of Delaware’s Founding Fathers, and what to do with the statue of his likeness, was a recreation of Rodney’s ride from Dover to Philadelphia last month.
Ciro Poppiti, a Delaware lawyer and the New Castle County Register of Wills, donned a Rodney costume and undertook the two-day journey by carriage, traversing back roads to make it to Independence Hall on June 13.
Poppiti said the ride was substantially more complicated to pull off in 2026 than in 1776, because Delaware roads are far busier now, and many are not safe to travel by carriage.
To Poppiti, though, it wasn’t just a whimsical opportunity to wear 18th century garb – the ride was also a chance to espouse some unity among Delawareans for the country’s 250th anniversary and reflect on Rodney as a part of Delaware history, he said.
Poppiti’s ride included stops at some spots in Rodney’s life, such as Christ Episcopal Church in Dover, where Rodney attended services. A participating group conducted a penance service recognizing that Rodney owned slaves.
Riding alongside Poppiti in the carriage were some of who he called the “unheard voices” of Rodney’s story – actors portraying people he enslaved and prominent Delaware women of the time.
“How do you think Caesar Rodney had time to be a hero? It was because of those patriots enslaved and working at his farm at Byfield,” Poppiti told Spotlight Delaware.
He said he hopes this nuanced representation in the Rodney reenactment will help inspire discussions about how to fairly display the statue in Delaware again.
Complicated statue conversations
The bronze statue of Rodney, depicted heroically on horseback, was erected in Rodney Square in Wilmington in 1923.
As protests over the death of George Floyd took place in Wilmington in the spring and summer of 2020, then-Mayor Purzycki and the Wilmington City Council decided to put the controversial statue in storage, vowing to initiate conversations about its future.
According to a number of people with knowledge of the situation, however, those discussions never fully took place.
Shabazz, the city council president at the time, said Wilmingtonians saw the statue being removed as a victory, but there were so many other issues to be addressed that there wasn’t ever time to revisit the statue’s future.
Yasser Payne, a University of Delaware sociology professor, said he was a part of community meetings about the statue, but he does not recall conversations with city or state officials. He described elected officials’ support for actual introspection about Rodney as “tacit.”
Ivan Henderson, executive director of the Delaware Historical Society, said his organization tried to work with the city and other groups to have public dialogue about the statue in 2024 and 2025, but nothing came to fruition.
A spokesperson for Wilmington Mayor John Carney’s office said the city has been engaging in “extensive conversations with historians, community leaders and cultural institutions” since 2020 about Rodney’s life and legacy.
The spokesperson did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s follow-up questions about what those conversations have entailed.
In 2024, as Carney campaigned for mayor, he told Spotlight Delaware that he was in favor of renaming the city’s main square after its most famous modern leader, former President Joe Biden.
State Sen. Eric Buckson (R-South Dover) has been pushing publicly for Rodney to be put back on display for several years.
Spotlight Delaware first reported in November 2025 that Buckson had secured a deal with the federal Department of the Interior to transport the statue to D.C. and display it as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebration in the nation’s capitol.
The Rodney statue was placed in the so-called Freedom Plaza, along with statues of other Revolutionary War-era figures, in late April. Rodney’s statue is slated to remain in D.C. for the next six months, Buckson said.
What’s next for Rodney?
While the Rodney statue is scheduled to stay on display in D.C. until the fall, state leaders do not appear to have a plan as to where it will go when returned to Delaware.
Buckson wrote a resolution in June calling for the city of Wilmington, the state and Kent County leaders to work together on finding a suitable location for the statue in Kent County – Rodney’s home – by November of this year. It was never considered by legislature before it concluded this week.
Wilmington is not being considered as a place for Rodney to be displayed once again, he said.
“It’s a victory for Delaware and the country to tell the historical significance of his ride,” Buckson said. “When that guy comes back to Delaware, Delawareans can decide where best to display the statue and how best to display it.”
Buckson said he is proposing the state stand up a committee made up of a diverse group of Delawareans to decide how to best display the statue “in its full context.”
He also said his current ideas for where to best place the statue include Legislative Mall and the John Dickinson Plantation, both in Dover.
A spokesperson for Carney said he is in support of Buckson’s proposal, but the plans “are still taking shape.” Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen said he is strongly in favor of returning the statue to Dover.
Other Delawareans on both sides of the debate, however, still have concerns about the status of the statue.
Copeland, the Caesar Rodney Institute director, said he is disappointed that “our current political environment” means the statue likely won’t return to be displayed in Wilmington, where it would get the most foot traffic from out-of-town visitors.
Payne, the UD professor, said he views the push to reinstall the statue now as a reflection of a step backward from the progress made during the George Floyd years and a reflection of the country’s current “conservative spirit.”
But to Poppiti, the historical reenactor, months of studying Rodney’s life and trying to embody his character left him with a different conclusion.
He said he believes Delawareans are putting too much emphasis on the statue and what will be done with it, when Rodney himself would not have cared about the statue. Rather, Rodney would have urged us to carry on the legacy of the Revolution, and of national unity.
“What he’d say is, ‘Let’s not lose the incredible gift that we were given 250 years ago,’ which is the opportunity for self-determination,” Poppiti said.
Transparency Notice:
Brandon Brice serves on Spotlight Delaware’s Advisory Council. Advisors have no role in the editorial decision-making of Spotlight Delaware. For more information, see our Ethics Policies page.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
