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The Green

History Matters: Caesar Rodney's slave-holding history

By Bente Bouthier
Published July 31, 2026 at 11:43 AM EDT
The Caesar Rodney statute is currently on display Federal Plaza in Washington D.C.
The Caesar Rodney statute is currently on display Federal Plaza in Washington D.C.

Caesar Rodney is known for the many public offices he held in Delaware, and his famous ride on July 1, 1776 to cast the deciding vote declaring the U.S. independent from Great Britain.

But like many founding fathers, Rodney was a slave owner and that part of his legacy led to a statue of him on Rodney Square in Wilmington to be removed in 2020 during a national reckoning with racism and police violence. This report confirms Rodney enslaved at least 26 people during his life.

On this edition of History Matters, Delaware Public Media’s Bente Boutiers sits down with Debbie Martin, Wilmington’s Historic Preservation Planner, who worked on the report to learn more about it.

History Matters: Caesar Rodney, Slave-owner
DPM's Bente Bouthier spoke to Debbie Martin about her work on a report confirming the people one of Delaware's founding fathers enslaved.
A page out of Thomas Rodney's ledger. Martin says the document is undated, but she believed Thomas created it shortly after his brother’s death in 1784. It's entitled, "An Account of the Negroes That Belonged to Caesar Rodney Esquire at the Time of His Death.” The document includes ages and family relationships of people enslaved by Rodney. Martin says the document comes from the Delaware Historical Society.

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Bente Bouthier
Before joining DPM, Bente worked in Indiana's network of NPR/PBS stations for six years, where she contributed daily and feature assignments across politics, housing, substance use, and immigration. Her favorite part of her job is talking on the phone with people about the issues they want to see in the news.
See stories by Bente Bouthier
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