Editors at the Washington Examiner urge Congress to take steps to protect American history from attack.
After intense pressure from Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), the Biden administration rescinded its plan to remove a statue of William Penn from National Park Service land Monday. But the continued preservation of our nation’s history should not be dependent on a state’s governor sharing the same political party as the current occupant of the White House.
Congress should act to stop such historical destruction.
If it is not stopped, what or who is next? Removing the statues of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln from the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials? Renaming the Washington Monument as the “Nation’s Big Tall Obelisk”? Or is obelisk a no-no because the ancient Egyptians used a lot of them?
With scant explanation, the National Park Service announced it would take down the statue of Penn and a model of his iconic house from Welcome Park, an open space expressly set aside to honor Penn’s life. Named for the ship Welcome, on which Penn took 136 mostly Quaker souls in a harrowing oceanic journey to the New World in 1682, the park is a tribute in grass and trees, fresh air, and architecture to one of the most admirable of all the early Americans.
Peace-loving and honest, Penn was famous for his warm relations with Native American tribes and for scrupulously abiding by the terms of contracts he signed with them. He ensured Native Americans had the right to fair trials against settlers. Penn also was the author of the Charter of Privileges, a worthy forerunner to both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that protected religious liberty and property rights and established the consent of the governed as a guiding principle of civic order.
Yet to left-wing activists with whom Biden has populated his administration, European settlers in the Americas are guilty of the twin offenses of being white and of creating homes on land where tribes roamed. Honoring settlers and this nation’s founders is anathema to these crusaders, who regard European history as evil per se and want it to be expunged.
