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Delaware Legacies: Caesar Rodney vs. Joe Biden
By Charlie Copeland, Director
Caesar Rodney Institute
January 14, 2025
"The du Ponts and [their early CFO John] Raskob made it Rodney Square. I'd like to create a Joe Biden-centered square. I can't think of a better way to honor the first Delawarean to be president of the U.S., who has served our country for 50 years."
-- Wilmington, DE, Mayor-elect John Carney, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The above quote by Wilmington's new mayor-elect demonstrates his poor judgment. His comments imply animosity toward the du Ponts and John Raskob as if their well-developed plan to create Rodney Square was built on elitism. Nothing is further from the truth.
Rodney Square: A Monument to Delaware's History
While Rodney Square was created by Pierre du Pont (of Longwood Gardens) and John Raskob (of Archmere School), dozens of local citizens were involved, and the effort transformed Wilmington into a center of commerce and global economic prosperity. The following is some context from the Rodney Square Conservancy:
"During the early 1910s, DuPont Company Vice President Pierre S. duPont and his personal assistant John Jacob Raskob developed a master plan for the Square that would transform the location into the civic center of Wilmington, complete with open space and special features that would unify the entire surrounding area and buildings into a single scheme.
Rodney Square's design was influenced by the "City Beautiful Movement," an urban planning movement led by architects, landscape architects and civic reformers at the turn of the 20th century to improve social order by introducing more beauty in the urban landscape, thereby encouraging civic pride and engagement.
Construction of the Square (then called Rodney Square Park) began in 1915 and was completed in 1921. The defining symbol of the Square, the equestrian statue of Caesar Rodney created by James E. Kelly, was dedicated on July 4, 1923. The statue commemorates Rodney's ride from Dover to Philadelphia on July 1-2, 1776 to cast the deciding vote in the Continental Congress for independence from England."
The Square was dedicated 139 years after Caesar Rodney's death, providing ample time for historians to evaluate and honor Rodney's significance to Delaware and the world.
Caesar Rodney: The Indispensable Delawarean
While this article is too short to provide a detailed history of Caesar Rodney, the following is a brief history of his various roles from Encyclopedia Brittanica:
"Caesar Rodney (born October 7, 1728, Dover, Delaware [U.S.]-died June 26, 1784, Dover) was a delegate to [both] Continental Congress[es] (1774-76, 1777-78), [the first] "president" of Delaware (1778-82), and a key signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Rodney had served as high sheriff of Kent county, Delaware (1755), and as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress (1765). He served in the Delaware assembly from 1762 to 1769 and as an associate justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 1769 to 1777. One of Delaware's three delegates to the Continental Congress, Rodney had been away in Delaware when he got word of the impending vote on the resolution for independence. Hurrying back to Philadelphia on horseback, he arrived in time to break the tie in his delegation and cast Delaware's deciding vote for independence.
In 1777 he was made commander of the Delaware militia with the rank of brigadier general. In 1783, after his term as "president," he was elected to the legislature, but he died the next year. Rodney suffered in his later life from a disfiguring and painful facial cancer and died before the creation of the United States."
(NOTE: CRI has written previously about Caesar Rodney's legacy. You can read more HERE.)
Joe Biden: History Yet to be Written
We do not know what historians will say about Joe Biden. His legacy is still evolving. We know that President Biden has not fully participated in policy-making in the White House for a long time - perhaps his entire term - which may be one of the biggest scandals in presidential history. According to the Wall Street Journal:
"To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, [White House staff] told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members-including powerful secretaries such as Defense's Lloyd Austin and Treasury's Janet Yellen-were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president's ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.'s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president."
We also know President Biden issued a uniquely broad pardon for his son, Hunter. According to CNN:
"The broadly crafted pardon explicitly grants clemency for the tax and gun offenses from his existing cases, plus any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed "from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024." This time frame, importantly, covers his entire tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and much of his other overseas work, including in China. He had faced scrutiny for his controversial foreign business dealings..."
These are important stories that history will more fully elucidate.
Additionally, we have already named much of the State after Biden. There are at least four places (*with a fifth possible):
1. Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station in Wilmington, DE.
2. Biden Welcome Center along the I-95 corridor.
3. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration at the University of Delaware.
4. Biden Environmental Center at Cape Henlopen State Park.
5. *The Biden Presidential Library (unless he puts it in Scranton!).
These honors demonstrate that Delaware has already recognized Biden's contributions without needing to replace or diminish historical tributes like Rodney Square.
The CRI Position
Caesar Rodney was a patriot. He participated in the global beginnings of abolition during his time in both Continental Congresses and in his own "manumission," ensuring the people he enslaved would be freed upon his death (about 15 years before George Washington did the same). He did this at the start of the abolition movement before the United States was even founded.
Before 1776, there was little to no abolition anywhere in the world. It was not until the Declaration of Independence that the movement truly started, and Rodney died within eight years of the Declaration. Caesar Rodney's legacy is an honor for Delaware. He participated in every major Continental Congress before and during the Revolution. He was a legislative, executive, military, and judicial leader. His leadership is unparalleled in Delaware's history.
Despite already having 4-5 places named for him, President Biden's record has yet to be weighed. Perhaps history will judge him leniently - perhaps not. Let's wait a few years and decide if he needs further recognition - recognition not at the expense of Caesar Rodney, the man who created Delaware.