On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the administration of President Donald Trump rewrote history by wielding the tools of censorship and erasure.

At the National Park Service site honoring Charles Pickney, who wrote a draft of the Declaration of Independence, for example, references to the people enslaved at the location were scrubbed. As another example, the administration identified as problematic an exhibit about Benjamin Franklin’s scientific achievements because it also mentioned Franklin’s ownership of enslaved people.

History and tradition make us aware of who we are and what we are becoming. Notably, America continued to reveal itself, as Jill Lepore wrote in her prize-winning book, “These Truths: A History of the United States.”

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