While most Floridians were enjoying free park entry for George Washington’s Birthday weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Monroe County pulling a cord off a brand-new bronze tribute to James Monroe — Founding Father, fifth U.S. president, architect of the Monroe Doctrine… and lifelong slaveholder.
Welcome to America 250, Florida-style.
The statue, placed near Bahia Honda State Park along the newly christened Spottswood Heritage Trail in Big Pine Key, is part of the state’s semiquincentennial rollout — a multi-county effort to plant Founding Fathers in public squares like historical garden gnomes.
“In Florida, we honor our nation’s history,” DeSantis declared, celebrating Monroe’s “legacy of civic virtue.”
Civic virtue. Let’s talk about that.
Monroe’s résumé is undeniably robust: Decorated Revolutionary War hero, diplomat, signer of the Adams-Onís Treaty that transferred Florida from Spain to the United States — why the county was named after him — and author of the Monroe Doctrine, 
which warned European powers to stay out of the Western Hemisphere.
But here’s the part that doesn’t fit neatly on a plaque: Monroe owned more than 200 enslaved people over his lifetime. He inherited them. Bought them. Sold them. Relied on their labor at his Highland plantation and elsewhere — including during his presidency.
Yes, he privately referred to slavery as a “necessary evil.” Yes, he supported gradual emancipation.
He also supported shipping freed Black Americans to Liberia through the American Colonization Society rather than integrating them into the country they helped build.
And as governor of Virginia, he suppressed Gabriel’s Rebellion in 1800, leading to the execution of 28 enslaved men.
That’s not civic virtue. That’s the American contradiction.
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The state says the statue series reinforces “historical literacy.” But literacy requires full sentences — not selective paragraphs.
Are we telling visitors to Bahia Honda State Park that Monroe sold enslaved people to settle his debts? That families were separated under his ownership? That the expansionist policies he signed, including the Missouri Compromise, prolonged the institution he claimed to regret?
Or are we sticking to the greatest-hits album?
Because statues don’t footnote themselves.
Secretary of State Cord Byrd said every mile of Florida’s coastline is a monument to Monroe’s vision. Technically, that’s true. The Adams-Onís Treaty brought Florida into the U.S. orbit.
But there’s something almost poetic about installing a monument to a slaveholding president in 2026 Florida — a state currently 
locked in culture-war battles over how slavery is taught in schools. Remember when DeSantis signed a bill in 2022 that prohibited the teaching of critical race theory? He is still erasing entire chapters on race and ethnicity from college textbooks.
History, apparently, is safest when cast in bronze.
The statue isn’t just about Monroe. It’s about branding.
“America 250 Florida” is the governor’s stage for patriotic pageantry. Free park entry. Founders in every county with a presidential namesake. Civic pride with a glossy finish.
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It’s smart politics. It’s also selective storytelling.
Because honoring the Founders without grappling with their contradictions isn’t education — it’s marketing.
No one is arguing Monroe wasn’t consequential. He was. But if Florida wants to lead the nation in civic literacy, as it claims, then let’s tell the whole story.
Monroe the diplomat. Monroe the expansionist. Monroe the enslaver.
All of it.
Because the real test of patriotism isn’t whether we erect statues. It’s whether we can stand in front of them and tell the truth.
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Ron DeSantis unveils statue of slave owning U.S. president James Monroe added by Ladra on
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