United States: Is Donald Trump rewriting the history of the founding fathers and George Washington?

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Donald Trump has a vision of American history of his own, especially when it comes to George Washington. In January, in Philadelphia, an exhibition on the first president’s history as a slave owner was removed on the orders of the White House. “Cameras filmed employees removing the exhibition,” reported FOX 29 Philadelphia on January 24, 2026. “All of this is part of President Trump’s plan, who wants to remove displays that, according to him, divide Americans,” reported 6abc Philadelphia on September 17, 2025.

So, who was George Washington and why is the Trump administration trying to hide part of his history? George Washington is a figure you have probably come across in the library, in history class, or even while walking around Paris. If George Washington has a statue, even in France, it’s because he is considered one of the founders of modern democracy. A hero of the American War of Independence, he also became the first president of the country in 1789.

Another aspect of his life interests historians: that of a landowner with hundreds of slaves. “We can really say that if there were no slaves, there would be no George Washington. In other words, he would not have acquired the wealth that made him so famous. And if he had been an ordinary man, he would not have been an officer in the wars he participated in. He would be the first to admit it,” analyzed Woody Holton, historian, and professor at the University of South Carolina.

Yet, this part of the history of the United States, Donald Trump is trying to rewrite. In 2025, he signed a decree to “restore truth and reason to American history.” Last January, he had removed an installation paying tribute to George Washington’s slaves. The courts eventually had it reinstalled. However, the narrative on the monument’s website has evolved. George Washington was said to have practiced slavery, but with humanity. “The slaves who lived in the White House had greater autonomy than elsewhere in the South. They could, for example, explore the city and even go to the theater, with George Washington buying them tickets,” it reads.

However, the first president of the United States maintained an ambiguous position on slavery. He did not abolish it and even signed the Fugitive Act to capture slaves attempting to escape. A complex story that should not be simplified, according to historians: “What they want is a narrative devoid of evidence, scholarship, and analysis, where only certain people count and these people have only done wonderful things. It’s like saying that some groups are not truly American, they have not truly contributed to history, and they don’t really matter,” points out Chandra Manning, professor of American History at Georgetown University.

So, while George Washington is a central figure in the United States, known as the father of the nation, he also has his dark side. A history of slavery that it is dangerous to overlook, according to historians, as Donald Trump is trying to do.