text: A tour through the pages of history would find that Americans do not celebrate those with whom they would engage in war.  On July 9, 1776 a statue of King George III in Bowling Green was pulled down.  All British coats of arms were ordered removed from public places and destroyed.  The difference between a statue erected to celebrate a person for treason against his country and historical landmarks which contain artifacts of slavery as it existed before 1861, should be self evident.  In fact, Monticello was built in 1772, before there was a Declaration of Independence, Constitution or United States.  And, the heroes of the revolution did not fight to specifically to preserve the rights to own others.  In fact, the Revolutionary war can be seen as a step in a social evolution that led to the freedom of slaves.  (Read the history of battles in Congress to end it).   So, the comparison of Washington and Jefferson to the traitorous racists of the Confederacy is not apt.